Mirror Image of Our Dreams
by Kalcifier
Summary: After the whole Asura thing, Tsugumi just wanted to relax and spend time with her meisters, but Anya's been called back to her home country to reassure people. As a compromise, Anya invites Tsugumi and Meme to come with her and see the delights of Yngling firsthand. When they get there, though, things aren't as simple as they'd hoped. Stupid royalty and their "responsibilities".
1. Reunion

I watched the NOT anime this summer, and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite it being totally different from Soul Eater. Then I saw that there was like no fanfic about these three, so I figured I could write something short for them and then be done with it. It kind of got away from me.

Huge thanks go to my wonderful artist, TheApatheticKat, whose work I will link to as soon as it is posted. I can't wait to see your fic!

* * *

The whole Asura business had been difficult for everyone at the DWMA. The teachers and EAT students had all been pressed into the fight, which made things hard for the NOT students. They'd tried to keep having classes as usual, but between the teachers vanishing at a moment's notice and the atmosphere among the students it was eventually decided to be more trouble than it was worth. By the final battle, the NOT students had all been evacuated from Death City.

At the time, this decision had been met with much grumbling. After all, either Asura would be defeated or there would be nowhere on Earth that was safe. It seemed like a lot of trouble for nothing.

The complaints mysteriously stopped after Lord Death charged the entire city into battle.

But at last, it was over, and things could begin settling down. The city had suffered a lot of damage in the fight, but its citizens were used to collateral damage. The cleanup efforts were treated almost as a festival, everyone filling the streets to gossip about what had happened.

Classes didn't reconvene immediately, what with the damage to the school and the desire to give students time to recover, but the dorms were open and people were flooding back in. The girls' dorm was already settling into its version of normal. Kana was shoving cards into people's faces, Misery was smiling vacantly and threatening people with hammers, and Eternal Feather was stubbornly pretending she was above it all.

As far as Tsugumi was concerned, all that was missing was her partners. She'd already gotten their room back in order in a fit of nervous energy. It was probably the cleanest it had been in months, without Meme to forget where things belonged to Anya to buy useless junk to add to the clutter.

In other words, it felt empty. Tsugumi almost wanted to laugh at herself: it had been less than a month since she'd seen her meisters, and she already missed them desperately. A near-apocalypse did that to you, she supposed.

It wasn't like she was sitting around moping, either. She joined in the parties and the laughter and the cleanup, letting herself get swept up in the joyous atmosphere. If it felt like something was missing, she shoved it to the side. They'd get here soon enough.

Meme was the first to arrive. In typical Meme fashion, she'd walked through the doors with a confused look on her face. "Which one of these rooms is mine again?" she asked.

Tsugumi rushed to her side, unrepentantly abandoning the person she was talking to. They'd probably forgive her, right? The important thing was that her partner was here.

She swept Meme up in a hug. "Meme!"

"Tsugumi!" Meme said, enthusiastically returning the hug. "It's so good to see you, it's been so long!"

"I know, right?" Tsugumi said. "Come on, let me take you back to our room." By now, accommodating Meme's forgetfulness was second nature. It had been hard right after Shaula's defeat, when they'd been expecting Meme to become "normal" and stop forgetting things all the time.

While breaking the mind control had helped, she still had a habit of losing minor details such as birthdays and when she'd last eaten. "I'm so sorry," she'd said after a week of missing assignments and thwarted hopes. "I think I've just always been like this, and it's terrible, and I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Tsugumi had said, wishing she didn't feel like such a hypocrite. "We can handle this, because we're partners and that's what we do."

"Did you really think we'd blame you for something that's clearly causing you so much distress?" Anya had added. "I can't believe you have such a low opinion of us."

She sniffed haughtily, and Meme laughed. If it was a little watery, no one said anything.

That hadn't been the end of it, of course. Meme still got frustrated by all the things she forgot, and Tsugumi got frustrated with how little Meme seemed to care, and Anya got frustrated with any number of things, but particularly with how often it felt like their conversations were going in circles.

But as Tsugumi had said, they were partners, and they adapted. It was no different than accommodating Tsugumi's indecisiveness or Anya's tendency to get distracted by so-called commoner activities at the worst possible times.

So as Tsugumi led Meme to their room, she didn't press for details about the time they'd been apart. Meme would talk about it if she remembered, and if she didn't, it wasn't a big deal. Neither girl had been able to go home during the evacuation anyway; Japan was evidently too far for what had optimistically been treated as a temporary arrangement.

As they walked, Tsugumi chattered about her experiences with her host, a former NOT weapon who'd gone on to become a baker. He'd been nice enough, if a bit stressed by the situation. He'd even tried to teach Tsugumi how to bake bread. She quickly decided to stick to omelets, in large part because he got up at four each morning to bake.

It had been nice to see more of the United States, even if she hadn't gone that far from Death City. It was a reminder that there was more to the country than desert, no matter how difficult that was to believe some summers.

When Tsugumi was done, Meme chimed in with what information she could remember. She'd stayed in the desert, though not in the state. Her hosts were also ex-NOT, a weapon and meister team. They'd gone on to become police officers together, reasoning that their skills while they couldn't handle pre-Kishin they could terrify the heck out of mundane criminals.

"That sounds pretty nice," Tsugumi commented. She didn't want to have to split up their team, but it seemd unlikely that they were going to become full-time DWMA employees. As it was, they were probably going to have to separate when Anya took on more official royal duties.

But thinking about the future just made her sad, so she tried to focus on what Meme was saying. This plan worked a little too well, in that they passed the room twice before she remembered that Meme still hadn't unpacked her things. She turned around as casually as she could manage, heading straight back to their room.

They unpacked together, on the grounds that having two people doing it would force them to finish the job. Then they flopped onto their respective beds.

They'd hit a lull in the conversation, so they just laid there, enjoying each other's presence. It would have been perfect, Tsugumi thought, if only Anya were there.

She was about to voice this thought when she was interrupted by the girl in question. "Are you two really just lying around? Honestly, you haven't changed a bit." Her harsh words were undercut by the massive smile on her face.

"Anya!" Meme launched herself off the bed to hug her. Tsugumi ran after, though she couldn't quite achieve Meme's exuberance.

"Okay, I missed you too," Anya said. "But we don't have time for this right now. You have to pack!"

"Wait, I thought we just unpacked," Meme said. "Did I forget something again?"

"No, it's only just been decided. I'm taking you both back to my country with me!" Anya delivered this news with all the excitement of a game show host.

Tsugumi's reaction was not what she had hoped. "What? But we just got back to Death City! And who decided this, anyway?"

"I did. It took me forever to convince my parents, too, so you better be grateful."

"Why do you even want us to come?" Meme asked.

"Well, after the Kishin incident, the people are understandably nervous. I believe it would be beneficial to have DWMA students there as a symbol of security and protection." Anya blushed and looked away. "And maybe I was getting lonely without you guys."

Meme giggled. "Aww, we missed you too!"

"Yeah…" Tsugumi paused. "Wait, but what about our classes? They're going to start soon, I think. And we should probably tell our parents, too."

"I've already informed our teachers, and they've agreed to count it as an extra credit mission. Officially, you're going to be ambassadors of the DWMA." Anya put her hands on her hips. "And I'm sure your parents won't mind. After all, you're already on a different continent. At least now you can stay in a castle."

Well. Anya may have glossed over it, but Tsugumi wasn't sure how she felt about representing the DWMA to an entire country. Honestly, what she really wanted to do was relax with her friends and not have to worry about anything more taxing than her lastest assignments and whether they'd blown all their money for the week.

But Anya was making those unintentional pleading eyes at her, and Tsugumi couldn't say no to that. If her meister needed her, she would just have to suck it up and go.

"Okay," she said. "But this is your fault, so you get to help me pack."

"I agree to your terms," Anya said. "Well then, let's get to it."

As it turned out, having three tired and excited girls trying to pack one suitcase was not the most productive way to go about it. They had eventually managed it, but not without multiple giggle fits and at least one impromptu karaoke session. Tsugumi was still sort of expecting to arrive in Yngling and realize that they'd brought some of Anya's dresses instead of Tsugumi's own clothing.

Honestly, she was kind of hoping for it. Anya had said that their DWMA uniforms would be fine, but they were going to be meeting royalty. She didn't want to make a bad impression by looking too lazy or too ignorant to dress up properly. They were Anya's parents, and Tsugumi really wanted them to like her.

She spent their whole time at the airport fighting the urge to fidget. They were at least leaving through the regular airport, rather than taking off directly from the DWMA as she had feared. She was still sort of cowed by the fact that they were taking a private jet. Apparently there weren't any express flights from Death City to Yngling, much less flights that met the standards of the royal family.

It wasn't all bad, though. They were officially travelling as ambassadors of the DWMA, which made airport security much less of a hassle. And the private jet was more comfortable than her flight from Japan had been. And they were going to stay at a castle, which was just ridiculously cool. She could do this. She was Tsugumi Harudori, one of the girls who'd defeated a witch while still in the NOT class. As long as her meisters were with her, she could handle anything.

"Look at this adorable skull keychain!" Anya said from her seat right beside Tsugumi.

Tsugumi squeaked and tried not to fall over. Because they were travelling in a private jet, and she had enough space that she could actually fall over if she wasn't careful. Right.

"I found it in one of the airport gift stores," Anya continued. "It's almost a shame our flight left so quickly. Just think what other wonderful things I missed."

Tsugumi looked at Meme, expecting to share a look about Anya's weird fascination with cheap kitsch. Then she noticed the stuffed sloth in Meme's arms.

Meme noticed Tsugumi's glance. "Yeah, I found him as we were walking to the terminal! I know, he's no skull, but I think he's got character."

Anya nodded. "He certainly is an amiable fellow. Did you not get anything, Tsugumi?"

Tsugumi laughed weakly. "I wanted to save my money for authentic Ynglish souvenirs?" Actually, she just hadn't been able to pay much attention to the shops, too concerned by her own worries. That probably wasn't a good sign. At least now they were on the plane, she could distract herself with one of the game consoles hooked up to the ridiculously large screen at the front of the cabin. You know, standard plane fare.

Still, it seemed better than dwelling. "Wanna play Mario Kart?" she asked.

Thankfully, neither of her companions commented on the abrupt change of subject. "You're on!" Anya said, reaching for a controller.

"I call Yoshi!" Meme said.

It took them a while to figure out how to configure the screen to actually show their games. Once they managed it, though, they settled in for a marathon video game session. They had fourteen hours to kill before they arrived in Yngling, after all.

The flaw in this plan occurred to Tsugumi just as they were landing. She had enjoyed herself thoroughly, even once they got bored and switched to playing other games instead. But now, between Anya and Meme's competitive natures and the amount of time she'd spent cooped up in a plane, she was exhausted. And she was about to go meet royalty.

Tsugumi knew what she was like when she was tired, and she didn't want to inflict that on anyone, let alone people she was trying to impress. Maybe she should just go into weapon form and make Meme carry her. She could claim it was to make sure they would be prepared to protect the country at a moment's notice, and people probably wouldn't try to make a halberd talk, right? And it would hide her disheveled uniform.

… Okay, this was why she was worried about meeting people while tired. She'd probably end up rambling about something completely off-topic and making herself look like an idiot.

But it was too late to fix anything, because they were officially in Yngling. They were greeted at the airport by a limo, because of course they were. Tsugumi couldn't even bring herself to be impressed at that. At least the seats were comfortable.

Seriously, they were really comfortable. She leaned back in her seat. It would be okay if she just closed her eyes for a moment, right? Meme and Anya looked like they were similarly tired, so she hoped they'd forgive her for not making conversation. The castle was supposed to be an hour from the airport anyway, she had time.

Then she opened her eyes and they had arrived. It was only lingering grogginess that kept her from jolting in her seat, so at least being tired was working in her favor for once. It looked like she'd been right about the others being tired; Anya and Meme had fallen asleep leaning on each other. She was trying to decide if she should wake them up when Alfred leaned in and cleared his throat, effectively settling the issue.

Anya really did jump, which was enough to wake Meme up. Tsugumi felt slightly better about her own reaction until she saw how quickly Anya settled into royalty mode. "Thank you, Alfred," she said, giving no sign of lingering exhaustion. "Shall we go in?"

Meme nodded, yawning.

"Excellent," Anya said.

She swept out of the car. Tsugumi scrambled after her, trying not to look too clumsy. Her efforts were doomed as soon as she saw the castle, though. It was as if the Disney logo had been brought to life. The walls were smooth and white, the roof the bright orange of the rising sun, and the towers soared above the already-impressive main building. It was like Tsugumi's first visit to the DWMA all over again.

She knew she was staring, but she couldn't seem to help herself. She took some comfort in the fact that Meme was gawking just as much.

Anya let them stand there for a few moments, then started walking decisively toward the entrance. Tsugumi followed slowly, self-conscious all over again. Did she really deserve to be staying in such a beautiful building?

To her eternal gratitude, Anya didn't lead them straight to the throne room. Instead, they climbed three flights of stairs and navigated a labyrinth of hallways before stopping outside a bedroom the size of one of the DWMA's classrooms. "These are the guest bedrooms," Anya said. "We don't want to keep my parents waiting for too long, but you'll probably want to get cleaned up first. This will be Tsugumi's room, and Meme, you'll be staying right next door. My room is upstairs, but I'll be nearby. If you need anything, call for Alfred, and either he or one of the other servants will be available to help you. I'll be down to get you shortly."

She stood there for a moment longer, watching their faces. Just as Tsugumi was starting to get uncomfortable, Anya turned around suddenly and started back down the hallway. Meme and Tsugumi exchanged looks. "Wait, we each have a room this big for ourselves?" Meme asked.

"I know, right?" Tsugumi replied. "I wish we had more time to check them out." Still, she was very grateful for the chance to wash up. She wasn't sure she'd be able to do much to make herself look presentable, but at least she'd feel better.

"Yeah." Meme pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I wonder what Anya's room looks like…" She wandered away, apparently lost in thought.

"Um, your room's over there!" Tsugumi called after her.

"Thanks!" Meme corrected herself easily.

Tsugumi waited until Meme had made it successfully before going into her own room. Looking around, it was even more ridiculous than her first impression. The bed was larger than all three of their beds at the DWMA put together. Opposite from it was an enormous wooden dresser. The room was large enough that Tsugumi could walk between them with ease. The walls were white and bare, though there was a window on the far wall.

Okay, she thought, step one should probably be to find the bathroom. She needed to shower and change; she could figure out where to put her stuff later. For now she just dropped her bag on the bed, grabbed her nicest uniform, and got into the shower.

Being able to think about an after the meeting actually helped, she thought. It let her think of it as just something she had to get through, rather than the big looming unknown. And she probably wasn't going to be the center of attention anyway, or at least not for long. There had to be more important things than a group of schoolgirls, even if they were from the DWMA. All she had to do was avoid making too much of a fool of herself and it would be fine.

Besides, there was no more time to dwell on it. She got dressed quickly and combed out her hair, doing her best to look like a responsible adult instead of a nervous teenager. She considered putting her hair up in pigtails, but that would feel a bit too much like taking a security blanket, and it wouldn't do her apparent maturity any favors. Instead she went with a bun, which seemed like the sort of hairstyle responsible people had. She kept her makeup simple and professional, or at least she hoped that was the effect, and not "too young to know how to put on makeup".

She smoothed down her skirt for the last time. She glanced in the mirror to make sure she hadn't missed anything major, took a deep breath, and walked out of the bathroom.

When she got into the hallway, she found Meme already waiting for her. Meme was wearing more makeup than usual, and she'd let her hair down for a change. It looked good, Tsugumi thought. Maybe they could pull it off.

Meme smiled at her. "Wow, Tsugumi! We both look great, don't we?"

"You do, rather," Anya said from behind them.

Tsugumi turned to look at her and her jaw dropped. Anya wore dresses rather frequently, but most of them were shapeless and easy to fight in. This was clearly the dress of a princess. It had intricate beading down the front, and the skirt was floor-length and full. Completing the look, she was also wearing a delicate tiara.

Tsugumi was suddenly less confident about her own outfit. It was clearly too late to worry, though. "Are you ready?" Anya asked.

Tsugumi nodded, swallowing. "Yup!" Meme said.

"Then let's get this over with," Anya said. She started down the hallway, and Tsugumi reluctantly followed.


	2. Apprehension

Tsugumi had only been to the Death Room once, right after they'd killed Shaula. It had been remarkably unintimidating, which was impressive for a room full of gravestones. Lord Death himself had been equally welcoming. She'd known that he was probably the most powerful person on the planet, but he'd been warm and easy to talk to.

The Ynglish throne room was basically the opposite of that experience. Yngling itself was a small country, so its monarchs weren't particularly powerful in the grand scheme of things. And the room was beautiful, full of soaring arches and glittering columns. It was the sort of place that you thought could only exist in cartoons.

Standing in the middle of it, waiting for Anya to introduce them, Tsugumi was absolutely terrified. Being surrounded by all this grandeur only made her feel small and unimportant. To make it worse, the room was full of well-dressed strangers who were all looking in her direction. She couldn't tell what they were thinking, but part of her was convinced they were all judging her. She didn't belong here, and they could all tell.

She wished she could rely on her meisters for comfort. It was a silly thought, since they were both standing next to her. But they couldn't do much in such a formal setting, and with so many eyes on her Tsugumi felt pinned to the spot.

She was nervous enough as they went through what seemed to be standard court pleasantries. Everyone stood for the king and queen to enter, they said a few words, and everyone sat down again. Tsugumi was able to follow along well enough to avoid making a fool of herself, but she couldn't tell you anything specific about what was going on. The king could have been talking about his favorite TV show for all she knew.

Far too soon, it was time for them to be officially presented to the court. Anya had prepared a short speech about her "highly capable partners from the DWMA, Meme Tatane and Tsugumi Harudori." It was a nice sentiment, but it just meant Tsugumi had to spend that much longer smiling politely at everyone.

When it was over, Tsugumi curtsied to the best of her ability, and Meme did the same. "We are honored to work with your daughter," she recited. "She is a skilled fighter and a good friend."

Meme nodded. "We appreciate your hospitality in hosting us at the castle, and hope to serve you and this country to the best of our ability in fighting any lingering forces of madness."

They curtsied again and stepped back. The queen thanked them very nicely, a few more token courtesies were exchanged, and at last they were dismissed. Tsugumi managed to keep her head up and her back straight until they were out of sight of the throne room.

As soon as they'd made it back to the guest rooms, she slid to the floor, careful not to mess up her uniform too badly. Meme sat down beside her. She looked as exhausted as Tsugumi felt, which didn't stop her from saying, "Let's agree not to talk to important people anymore."

"What about Anya?" Tsugumi asked.

"She's just going to have to run away again. We can be her sugar daddies!"

Tsugumi didn't realize what Meme had said at first. It didn't help that Meme was smiling the same way she always did, as if she was seriously considering it. Tsugumi looked at her for a long moment, then dissolved into helpless laughter. The image of Anya trying to maintain a sugar daddy wouldn't leave her brain.

Meme finally allowed herself to laugh as well, and they sat there giggling on each other's shoulders. A part of Tsugumi worried that someone would find them like this, but that only made her laugh harder, if slightly hysterically. They were professionals, she swore.

When she could finally breathe again, she pulled herself to her feet. "Okay," she said. She pointed dramatically. "We should take advantage of being in a castle while we can, especially if we're planning to kidnap the princess. To our rooms!"

She led Meme back to their rooms with minimal difficulty. Admittedly, they got slightly lost for a while, but the important thing was that no one was around to see them do it. That meant it didn't really count.

When they arrived, Tsugumi gestured to the doors with a flourish. "Your room or mine?"

Meme made a show of thinking. "Well, I didn't bother cleaning mine before leaving, so let's use yours."

"Wow, thanks," Tsugumi said. "I didn't exactly have time to clean either, you know."

Despite her complaints, she was already opening the door. Her room was just as ridiculously large as she remembered. In the time she'd been gone, her suitcase had been neatly tucked under the bed, and her clothes appeared to be neatly hung up in the wardrobe.

"Right, servants…" Meme said.

Tsugumi looked around. For all that the room was large, it was mostly bare, and didn't lend itself to exploring. She pulled the wardrobe doors open the way she'd seen in movies, but it was really just a wooden box full of clothing.

"Okay, is it just me or is this much less impressive now that we've seen the throne room?" Tsugumi asked.

"Yeah, it feels kind of empty," Meme said.

They looked around as if something interesting would suddenly reveal itself. Nothing did.

"Want to just hang out in here?" Tsugumi finally asked.

"Sure!'

Tsugumi sat down on the bed, and Meme flopped down next to her. "I think there's a chair in the bathroom," Tsugumi offered.

Meme gave a half-shrug. "Eh," she said. "This is comfier."

"Okay then." Tsugumi lay down beside her. "Honestly, that wasn't as bad as I expected. The meeting royalty thing, I mean. It was still pretty bad, but at least there were other things going on. I kind of expected it to just be people staring at us."

"Oh, that's good," Meme said. "I think rehearsing with Anya helped too, probably."

"I mean, we didn't get much chance to practice, but yeah. If we hadn't had prepared something, I probably would have said something stupid like 'your daughter fights good, you are very scary.'"

"But at least it's over. Forever."

"I mean, if we're going to do anything official we'll probably have to report to them, but yeah."

Meme stretched her arms up. "No, I don't like that. Let's just stay here and have servants bring us things."

"I wish," Tsugumi laughed.

There was a knock at the door. "Are you guys in there?" Anya called.

"Yeah, just a second!" Tsugumi levered herself off the bed so she could let Anya in. "So, is the big official meeting over?"

"For now, thankfully." Anya went straight to the bed, sitting primly by Meme's feet. "I think there are still minor details to figure out, but I managed to get excused to discuss our plans."

"Sounds good!" Meme sat up. "What are our plans?"

"That is the question, my dear Meme," Anya said. "You guys are here as official delegates of the DWMA, but that doesn't really mean much. We have no reason to suspect there are any kishin eggs in Yngling, so for now you're mostly just here to reassure people that they're safe and that they aren't going to be killed horribly.

"With that in mind, I was thinking we could have some sort of combat exhibition. It doesn't have to be a huge thing, but if people see how good you are at fighting, they'll probably be more encouraged. The DWMA hasn't really done much here, so the name won't mean much to a lot of people. Seeing you in action will make it more real."

Tsugumi nodded thoughtfully. "Okay," she said.

"But what about you, Anya?" Meme asked.

"Well, I'm probably going to introduce you guys," Anya said. "That way people can see that you're trustworthy as well as competent."

Meme frowned. "But the three of us are a team. At the moment, you're making it sound like it's the two of us with you just sort of there. Can you join us for the combat part, too?"

"I don't know," Anya said. "I'd love to join you, but I don't know if it's a good idea. While I'm here, I have to act like a princess. Unfortunately."

"But wouldn't it be more reassuring for people to know that their own royal family is willing to step in and protect them if necessary?"

Anya opened her mouth, then shut it again. "Oh, that's good," she said. "Well, I'll try to convince my parents. We've probably got a week or two until it actually happens, anyway. Which reminds me, we need to figure out what you'll be doing until then."

"What do you mean?" Tsugumi asked.

"We want people to know that you'll be ready to protect them, right? So it would help if they see you out in the field and doing things."

"But if there isn't any kishin activity…" Meme began. "I mean, what's the point?"

"I don't know," Anya said. "But if you can make yourself visible, it would be great. Who knows, maybe you'll actually find something. That would be good PR, not to mention good for the DWMA."

"I don't know," Tsugumi said slowly. "Isn't this lying to people?"

"Not really. If there is a kishin egg around, you'll be there to fight it," Anya said. "And it will make people feel better."

Tsugumi hummed noncommittally. She could see Anya's point, but the whole thing still just seemed weird.

Anya seemed to take it as agreement. "And I'm so looking forward to being able to show you around!" She clasped her hands together. "I know I didn't get that many opportunities to leave the castle, but I can definitely give you a tour of the capital. You're going to love it!"

Tsugumi nodded, her mind still stuck on the idea of fake patrolling. She hoped Anya was right about it helping people. It wasn't like anyone was going to be hurt, at least. She was sure it would be fine.

It wasn't long after that that the conversation strayed to less useful topics. When they started talking about how bad the Yo-Yo Cop Girl finale was, Tsugumi finally kicked them out of her room. She'd heard this rant dozens of times in the year since it came out. They really needed to get over it.

She waited a moment to be sure they were really gone and not just continuing the conversation in the hallway, then started getting ready for bed. It had been a very long day, and Anya had made it sound like they were going to be busy.

She'd worried that she'd be unable to sleep in such an unfamiliar environment, but she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When she woke up, light was streaming through the crack in the curtains. She sat up blearily, reaching for her phone to check the time. It was 1:16 in Death City, and Yngling was nine hours ahead, so… 10:16?

She stared at her phone in horror. As much as she appreciated the chance to sleep in, there had to be something she was missing.

She rushed through her morning routine in a panic. She had to search to figure out where her stuff had been put away, but she was dressed and knocking on Meme's door by 10:45. Meme took a while to respond, and when she did she was still blinking away sleep. "Oh, Tsusgumi," she said. "What's up?"

"Do you know what time we were supposed to meet Anya?" Tsugumi asked.

Meme frowned. "We were supposed to meet Anya?"

"Yeah, she was supposed to show us around the capital," Tsugumi said, trying to act casual. It was fine. They would apologize for being late, and it would be fine.

Meme's eyes widened. "Oh. Let me just get ready, then."

She closed the door. Tsugumi tried to wait patiently, but after a few minutes started pacing in the hallway. They were probably making a terrible impression, if they couldn't even make it to their first appointment on time.

Someone came down the hallway, and Tsugumi stepped aside to let them past. Instead, Alfred nodded at her. "Ah, you're awake," he said. "My lady wanted me to inform you that she will be unable to accompany you today. She is deeply regretful and hopes that you will be fine on your own."

Tsugumi nodded. "Thank you," she managed.

Alfred bowed and left, leaving Tsugumi to scream internally. Meme came out of her room a minute later, still pulling her shoes on. She stopped when she saw Tsugumi's face. "What's wrong?"

"Apparently Anya can't show us around after all," Tsugumi said. She sighed. "She's got some sort of princess thing."

Meme shook her head. "This is why we should have kidnapped her when we had the chance. Well, I guess we're just going to have to go out on our own."

"I guess," Tsugumi said. "I hope that's okay. Anya was really looking forward to this, and so was I."

"Well, we don't have to go to the capital today." Meme went back to putting on her shoes. "We can always go somewhere else. I mean, all we're doing is trying to look official, right? We can do that anywhere."

"I guess." Tsugumi folded her arms in front of her. "Maybe I can transform in front of them, make it a spectacle." She tried to smiled. "How many people do you think will have seen demon weapons before?"

"It is a small country." Meme straightened back up. "Come on, let's go see if we can impress the locals."

Tsugumi's stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly. "Um," she said. "Maybe we should get breakfast first?"

"Oh thank goodness," Meme said. "Did we skip supper or something?"

Tsugumi thought about it. "I think so, actually. We kind of had other things to worry about."

"In that case, let's go see if we can find a kitchen!"

Meme set off in an apparently random direction. Tsugumi followed, having no better ideas.

After wandering for a while, they managed to find a servant who could lead them to the kitchen. They then had to fight off a generous offer to make them a luxurious meal, which Tsugumi was sure would have been delicious and very time consuming.

They ended up with a couple of sandwiches and some fruit. Of course, the next step was actually escaping the castle, which neither of them had any idea how to do. "Why is this place so complicated?" Tsugumi asked as they walked past a room for the third time.

"I think castles just have to be like that," Meme said. "It's a rule."

When they finally fought their way to the front door, they found a car already at the entrance. Its driver stepped out and opened a door for them. "Ah, I've been waiting for you," she said. "I heard you were interested in going out, and thought you might require a vehicle. Will this be sufficient? I thought the limousine might be too flashy, but if you'd like I could go fetch it."

Tsugumi shook her head. "No, this is great! Thank you. Umm, also, do you know where we can go to keep an eye on things? Other than the capital, I mean."

The driver nodded smartly. "Of course, ma'am. I know just the place."

Tsugumi fought down a blush and climbed into the car. Meme followed right behind her. The driver closed the door, then got in the front and began to drive.

Tsugumi looked at the glass divider, then at Meme. "I feel so awkward," she whispered. "I don't know how to treat servants! And they all know what's going on better than I do."

"I've just been following your lead." Meme passed her a sandwich. "I kind of want to try to talk to them, but then I feel like they'd just be humoring me because they were paid to do so."

"I know, it's the worst." Tsugumi took a bite of the sandwich. A new thought occurred to her. "Also, do you have any idea what to expect when we arrive?"

"I know absolutely nothing about Europe," Meme said. "How about you?"

"I mean, I've got vague mental images of whimsical rural villages, but I think those are all from movies. Otherwise, no."

"Yeah," Meme said. "I guess we should just try to ask questions and not make it too obvious that we have no idea what we're doing."

"Like what, 'have you seen any kishin around'?" Tsugumi asked. "That's just going to make people more scared."

"I was thinking something more casual, like, 'have you noticed anything weird since Asura's defeat.' That way we make it clear that we're paying attention without sounding too concerned."

"Oh, I like that," Tsugumi said. "You can do the talking, and I can do the fancy weapon transformations."

"Sounds good!"

They ate in silence for a bit. "I wish Anya were here," Tsugumi said suddenly. "Like, she'd know what to expect, at least sort of, but also I just wish she were here with us."

"Yeah, having us split up like this practically guarantees that something bad is going to happen to one of us. Dramatic tension, you know?"

"Thanks," Tsugumi said. "Now I have a specific thing to worry about."

"No problem! Just trying to help."

Tsugumi did her best to fight the mental images of Anya getting hurt while they were gone, or Meme getting hurt because she was distracted thinking about Anya, or a civilian getting hurt while they were trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing, or the kishin suddenly reappearing in front of them –

She was so caught up in worst case scenarios that she didn't notice when they got off the highway. It wasn't until they came to a city that she realized they had arrived at their destination.

The architecture sort of reminded her of Death City, though with fewer skulls. There were rustic looking buildings next to sleek modern facades, brightly colored houses between dull gray offices. The clothing of the people she could see was similarly familiar, with nary a bonnet or apron to be seen. It was all so ordinary. Tsugumi was almost disappointed.

But the people did look approachable, at least. They'd likely stand out in their formal uniforms, which was probably a good thing if their goal was to be seen. They would be able to ask their questions, shake a few hands, and generally look good.

The car eventually came to a stop in front of a Gothic cathedral. It, at least, fit with Tsugumi's mental images. It towered elegantly over the town square, which was full of stalls that seemed to sell everything from fruit to wooden carvings to touristy souvenirs.

How had Anya been so excited by the Death Bazaar? This looked at least as interesting.

The driver came around to open the car door for them, and Tsugumi climbed out quickly. "Thank you for bringing us here, this looks perfect!" She suppressed her urge to bow.

"Yeah, thanks so much!" Meme said, looking around the square.

"It was my pleasure," the driver said. "I will be here when you are ready to return to the castle. If you want to make it back in time for supper, I recommend you be here by five, but the choice is yours."

She got back into the car, leaving Tsugumi and Meme to their own devices. "Do you have any thoughts on where to start?" Tsugumi asked.

"Nope!" Meme pointed to one of the stalls. "They look like they have cool things, though, so I vote we check them out. We can ask questions while we look around.

Tsugumi smiled. Meme's optimism was always infectious, and if she wasn't worried about deceiving people then neither would Tsugumi. She would go out and enjoy herself with her partner, and if doing so made people feel better then good for them.

Meme led them to the stand she'd been admiring, which was full of intricately carved wooden toys. She went through a box of wooden swords, only to slump in disappointment. "No halberds," she reported.

"Were you trying to replace me?" Tsugumi drew her eyebrows together in faux concern. "I can't believe it! After all we've been through together? I thought we were friends."

Meme shook her head. "I'm sorry, Tsugumi, but I have no choice. I'll always remember you."

The man running the stall looked at them nervously, and Tsugumi stiffened. Well, professionalism was probably out the window, but she could still try to be polite. "Sorry about that."

"Actually, we're here on behalf of the DWMA, and we have a few questions if you don't mind," Meme cut in. "Have you noticed anything strange going on since the defeat of the Kishin Asura?"

The man frowned at them. He said something Tsugumi couldn't quite catch. "I'm sorry?" she said.

He repeated himself more loudly, and Tsugumi realized that he wasn't speaking English. She looked at Meme helplessly. Somehow, she'd never considered the fact that maybe the people in Yngling wouldn't speak English. "You don't happen to speak Japanese, do you?" she asked in Japanese.

The man's frown deepened. He muttered something else, then turned to talk to the person running the next stall over. Tsugumi felt thoroughly dismissed.

"That could have gone better," Meme said.

"You think?" Tsugumi took a deep breath. "Okay, we probably should have expected that, but it's no big deal. It's not like we really needed to know the answers to our questions anyway. This is fine."

"We could always ask someone to translate for us," Meme pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'd feel bad doing that." Tsugumi ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously. "If we really need directions or something, then yeah, but I don't want to bother someone if all we're doing is making ourselves look good."

"Fair enough." Meme looked out at the market again. "Besides, we can still check out all this cool stuff."

She pulled Tsugumi to the stand across the way. They wandered the square for a while, browsing the merchandise and asking if any of the merchants spoke English. There were several who did, but none of them reported anything out of the ordinary. Tsugumi figured that meant they probably wouldn't need a translator.

They went back to the car late in the afternoon. Tsugumi didn't feel like they'd accomplished anything, but at least it had been fun. They spent the drive back talking about the most interesting things they'd seen and speculating about what future excursions would be like. It was nice, Tsugumi thought.

When they got back to the castle, Anya was waiting for them at the entrance. She ran up to them as soon as they were out of the car. "I'm so sorry about today!"

Meme smiled at her. "It's fine. We know you didn't mean to, and it worked out."

Tsugumi smiled as well, though it felt horribly forced. "Yeah, we can't really blame you for having other responsibilities."

Anya relaxed visibly. "Thank you for understanding. I know it's got to be frustrating for you too. But come on, supper is being prepared for us and I want to hear all about your day!"

She clapped her hands together, turned, and started walking. She navigated the corridors with ease, though Tsugumi couldn't have told you if they were even in the same wing they'd spent the night in. At last they arrived at a small room. The table inside was only large enough for the three place settings currently at it.

"Technically, this is the servants' wing," Anya explained. "But I figured you wouldn't want to have to worry about a formal dinner right now. And this way we don't have to worry about being interrupted." Her eyes widened. "But if you want to eat somewhere fancier, that can definitely be arranged. Whatever you prefer."

"No, this is fine!" Tsugumi said hurriedly. She was nowhere near presentable enough for an official meal, and she liked the thought of being able to spend some time with just the three of them.

"Oh good," Anya said. "In that case, sit down. I want to hear all about your day."

A servant came in with food as they were sitting down. Tsugumi felt awkward sitting there as she was served, but the food itself looked amazing. She would definitely want to savor it.

But Anya was looking at her expectantly, so now probably wasn't the time. "Well, it wasn't really that interesting," she said. "I mean, we didn't get much done."

"Well, we kind of expected that," Anya said. "You don't really have anything concrete to do."

"We did get to go to a market, though, so that was nice." Tsugumi looked at Meme, willing her to pick up the thread of the story.

Meme swallowed her food hurriedly. "Yeah, our driver was really nice! They took us somewhere and we saw some things, and it was fun."

Well, it looked like Tsugumi was on her own for this. That was fine. She could let her food go cold. "She said she was taking us to a major city, and yeah, apparently it was a market day or something. There were all sorts of cool things for sale, like wooden swords and stuff."

"I've always wanted to go to a market like that," Anya said. "I'm sure it wouldn't compare to the Death Bazaar, of course. There probably isn't anything as interesting as Josephine for sale here."

Meme nodded sagely. "There are few things as interesting as Josephine."

"Anyway," Tsugumi said. "We tried to talk to some of the shopkeepers there, but a lot of them didn't speak English."

Anya slapped her forehead. "Of course they didn't, I can't believe I didn't think of that. That was my fault." She looked up and grinned. "Clearly you're going to need an official translator with you. I would be honored to offer my services."

"And you're sure you won't be busy again?" Tsugumi asked.

"I think I got most of the important things out of the way today, at least for now. And besides, if I come get you two early enough there won't be anyone around to stop us."

Meme groaned. "Ugh, mornings. Will we at least get a decent breakfast first?"

"But of course, my dear Meme," Anya said. "I'll have the kitchen prepare something we can eat in the car. Do you want anything in particular?"

Tsugumi looked up from her slightly frantic attempt to get at least a mouthful of food. "Um, I'm fine, thanks."

"Something sweet enough to make up for having to be awake," Meme said.

"That sounds doable," Anya said. "Anyway, I've heard what you did today, which is good, how was it? I mean, this was your first day in Yngling."

Her eyes sparkled, and Tsugumi knew what her answer had to be. "It was great! I'm really looking forward to going out again, especially with you as my tour guide."

Anya leaned back in her chair. "And you, Meme?"

"Yeah, it was nice! I'm pretty sure I had a great time."

She seemed to find their answers acceptable, as she relaxed fully. "Of course," she said. "Now, I would tell you about my day, but it was painfully boring and I don't want to subject you to that."

"Aw, it can't have been that bad!" Meme said. "I want to hear about what kinds of princessy things you're doing when we're not around.

"I spent hours sucking up to my parents to convince them that a weapons demonstration wasn't 'too dangerous' or 'unladylike' for me." Anya crossed her arms. "Honestly, it's like they think my time at the Academy has just been tea parties and fancy balls."

Tsugumi hummed sympathetically. "That does sound pretty bad. Did you manage to convince them."

"Eventually. I have had years to perfect my parent convincing skills so that I can do anything interesting." She took a deep breath and uncrossed her arms. "The point is that if I start talking about my day, I'll be complaining for hours. How about we find something more fun to talk about?"

"Ooh!" Meme leaned forward suddenly. "I heard somewhere that languages tend to develop words for colors in about the same order, so if there are only three color words they're going to be red, white, and black. Isn't that cool?"

Tsugumi and Anya stared at her in unison. "Um," Tsugumi said. "Cool?"

"Where did you even hear that?" Anya asked.

"I dunno, probably read it somewhere and it sounded interesting." Meme seemed content to leave it there, though Tsugumi was still blinking in surprise.

Anya recovered more quickly and seized upon the new topic. Tsugumi was perfectly willing to let them talk, as she was finally getting a chance to eat in peace.

They talked about weird trivia for a while, but eventually the conversation died down, at which point Anya noticed the time. "Okay, I know it's not that late, but I think we're all still jetlagged. And since we want to get an early start tomorrow, it might be a good idea to at least start getting ready for bed." She bit her lip. "I guess I'll say good night, then."

"Aren't you at least going to walk us to our rooms?" Meme asked. "It seems only polite."

"I mean, I don't want to intrude," Anya said.

"You wouldn't be intruding at all! Besides," Meme said, leaning in conspiratorially. "I don't actually remember how to get back."

Anya laughed. "Well in that case, how can I refuse? I would be honored to escort you through the castle."

"Well then, shall we go?" Meme asked in a terrible faux-aristocratic accent.

Tsugumi hastily finished her food. "Yes, let's."

They made their way through the halls. Meme and Tsugumi maintained their ridiculous impressions of stereotypical gentlewomen as best they could. Anya in turn seemed to be doing a bad impression of their impression, to the point of occasionally slipping into a Cockney accent.

By the time they made it to their rooms, they'd all descended into giggling messes. Tsugumi didn't even realize they'd arrived until Anya stopped, though that was partially because the castle was just far too large. "Well, my dear friends, this is where I must bid you adieu," Anya said. Her smile faltered, but she kept going with the impression. "Remember, we're meeting up early tomorrow, so try not to keep each other up with some impromptu sleepover or something."

"Good night!" Meme said cheerily. She went into her room.

Tsugumi looked at Anya for a moment longer, but she seemed disinclined to say anything else. "Good night," Tsugumi said.

Anya turned away. "Good night," she said as she left.

Tsugumi watched her go until she turned a corner, then went into her own room. She headed straight for the shower, hoping it would help clear her mind. She wasn't sure what was bothering Anya, but she hoped tomorrow's outing would help.

And if not, at least they didn't have anything else to worry about.


	3. Excursion

Last night, Tsugumi had been sure that they were being a little paranoid. Sure, they'd be getting up early, but did they have to go to bed at nine? That was probably overkill.

But now it was four in the morning and she was not prepared to be a person. She was barely managing to be a robot, following Anya blindly as they retrieved Meme from her room and breakfast from the kitchen. True to her word, Meme had claimed a selection of pastries, and was nibbling at one as they got in the car.

At least they were going to be sitting down for a while. Anya had insisted they go to the capital's main entrance so they could see it at sunrise, despite the fact that it would mean driving for an extra half hour. Tsugumi was focusing most of her energy on staying awake, so not having to move would be nice.

Somehow, Anya seemed entirely unaffected by the early hour. She had yawned once, but quickly smothered it with a grin. Now she was practically bouncing in her seat. Tsugumi would reluctantly admit that it was probably worth having to be awake if it made Anya that happy.

They passed the car ride mostly in silence, though Tsugumi tried to force her brain to come up with something interesting to talk about. She felt like she was almost there when the car pulled over. In the darkness, this stretch of road looked the same as any other, but Anya was looking out the window eagerly. "This is the first of Her Royal Highness' scheduled stops," the driver said. "If you would please step out of the car."

Anya blushed slightly at the use of her title, but motioned them out of the car. Tsugumi stepped out obediently, followed by Anya and then Meme.

"Wow, it's dark," Meme said. "Did I forget our entire day out?"

"No, you're good," Tsugumi said. "But yeah, what are we supposed to be seeing?"

Anya grabbed their hands and pulled them forward. "Look over there, it's almost sunrise," she said.

The first glimmers of light were just visible over the horizon. As they watched, the sun crept into view, illuminating the city and the gates before them.

Unlike the previous city they'd gone to, this one was almost entirely modern. Only the occasional wooden roof ruined the effect. But what impressed Tsugumi the most was the sheer number of windows: on office buildings, on storefronts, even on the houses. The sunlight was captured and reflected many times over, painting the whole city gold.

"Wow," Tsugumi breathed.

"I know, right?"

Tsugumi tore her eyes from the spectacle before her and saw Anya beaming at her. "Isn't it beautiful? I can't wait to show you it!"

They stood there watching until the sun was fully in the sky. Then they piled back into the car to enter the city proper. As they drove, Anya started talking animatedly. "The people of Yngling have always had a thing about sunlight. Way back, House Yngling was supposedly descended from this god, Yngvi-Frey? That's where the name came from. Anyway, one of his domains was sunshine and fair weather, so to honor him people started putting windows everywhere and now it's kind of a thing."

"Wow," Tsugumi said. "It's really cool that they've managed to keep the tradition going for this long."

"It's just a silly superstition," Anya said, but she couldn't suppress her smile.

"Wait," Meme said. "If there are windows everywhere, what do people do when they want privacy?"

"That's what basements are for." Anya blinked as she realized what she'd said. "Not that I would know, of course."

Meme started laughing, and Anya rushed to explain, cheeks pink. "You've seen the castle, you know I don't need to –" Tsugumi burst into laughter as well, and Anya sighed. "Okay, fine, whatever."

The car came to a stop, and Anya looked out the window. "Oh good, we're here. Let's go, we have lots of things to do, no time to keep laughing about this."

Their destination was apparently an art museum, judging by what Tsugumi could see through its massive windows. As far as she could tell, it was officially closed, since it was still like five thirty. They were let in personally by one of the curators, who offered to give them a full tour. "We should be fine, thank you," Anya said. "We appreciate the trouble you've gone to already, and wouldn't want to inconvenience you further."

The curator bowed. "Very well, your highness. I hope you and your guests enjoy our humble collection."

Anya walked hurriedly into the first gallery, and Tsugumi followed, trying to act like a princess' honored guest should. The attempt failed as soon as she saw the collection. She stopped short, and Meme nearly ran into her. "Sorry!" she said. "It's just, wow."

Meme walked into the room. "I agree," she said a moment later. "Wow."

Tsugumi didn't recognize any of the paintings or the artists, but she was beginning to think she should be writing them down to look up later.

Some of them were absolutely breathtaking. Apparently, Yngling had been very supportive of artists for centuries, which meant it produced a number of masterpieces despite its small size.

They wandered the museum for a while, marveling at the artwork. Anya tried to give them more information about some of the pieces, but she admitted that art history wasn't her forte.

As beautiful as it all was, there was only so much Tsugumi could take at once. They'd been there maybe two hours when Meme started flagging, and Tsugumi wasn't doing much better. They sat on a bench in the middle of the room staring off into space, and it wasn't long before Anya noticed and joined them. "Are we ready to go?" she asked.

Meme nodded vacantly. "I think so."

"So, what do you want to do next? There's a gorgeous cathedral downtown, or we can go to one of the parks, or…" Anya pursed her lips in thought. "Really, we can do almost anything, so just let me know."

"What will even be open this early?" Meme asked. "I mean, I know it won't really matter, but I kind of don't want to make people wait on us like that."

"Yeah," Tsugumi said. "And I kind of want to just explore some."

Anya stood up. "That can be arranged. Let's go downtown, then, and see what there is to see."

She strode off decisively. Tsugumi pulled herself up, then offered a hand to Meme. "Okay," Meme said. "Standing up. I know how to do that."

They followed Anya to where she was speaking to the curator, though not in English.

She turned to her friends. "I'm just thanking him again for letting us in this early, it shouldn't take long."

She said a few more words, and the curator nodded, then waved at Tsugumi and Meme. "Goodbye!" he said.

Anya led them out of the museum and through the streets. She kept up a running commentary about the city, both its history and her personal thoughts about it. Tsugumi tried to chime in occasionally, but mostly she just listened.

The reflecting effect from earlier was thankfully lessened as the sun continued to rise. She was beginning to realize why no one had been around, other than the late hour; she was having trouble keeping her eyes open as it was. Which was a shame, because the city itself was gorgeous.

It also meant that she had no idea where they were, even in relationship to the museum. As beautiful as the buildings were, they all looked really similar, and she hadn't been paying enough attention to distinguish them from each other.

Anya was still leading them around, so they were probably fine. Still, just to be sure, she decided to ask. It would suck to get separated and have no way to get back. "So," she said. "Where are we, exactly?"

Anya stopped walking. "I honestly don't know. I've just been planning to call the driver and ask her to pick her up when we're ready."

Tsugumi stared at her. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be the tour guide?" she asked.

"Well, I don't exactly get that many opportunities to explore the city by myself," Anya said. "Besides, if we get really lost we can always pull up a map."

Somehow, Tsugumi found that less than encouraging. She'd kind of expected that this expedition would be more structured.

"Don't worry about it," Meme said, as if reading her thoughts. "I get lost all the time, and I'm fine."

She did have a point. Okay, Tsugumi thought, this is fine. We'll just have to be careful not to get separated, which is a good idea anyway. And it's still more than we had yesterday.

Her train of thought was interrupted by someone racing their direction. Anya frowned. "What are they hurrying for?" she asked. "That hardly seems appropriate."

The stranger continued barreling toward them, stopping right in front of Anya and practically throwing themself at her feet. They started babbling, though Tsugumi couldn't make out any words. "What?" Anya said. "I can't understand you when you're blubbering like that. Stand up."

The person rose, not pausing their frantic monologue. As their words became more audible, Tsugumi realized that they weren't just mumbling, they were speaking another language. From the way Anya was listening intently, it was probably Ynglish. She glanced at Meme, who at least looked equally lost.

Eventually, the stranger's speech slowed down before stopping altogether. Anya frowned at them, then said a few words in the same language. The stranger obviously wasn't pleased by her response, but Anya spoke again, sharply, and they slunk away in defeat.

Once they were out of sight, Tsugumi spoke up. "What was that?" she asked.

"Oh, just some commoner who thinks that we're obliged to solve all his problems just because you're wearing a uniform." Anya waved a hand dismissively.

Tsugumi looked down at her outfit. "He was here because of me?"

"Well, you and Meme, yes. He was basically just complaining about the poor reception in his hometown. I told him it was probably just lingering madness interfering with the transmission." Anya crossed her arms. "Honestly, I don't know why he even tried to bother you with something like that. You've got bigger concerns than some hick not being able to catch his soap operas."

Was that really it? He'd seemed so distressed when he first ran up to them, it was hard to believe he was just disappointed about missing a TV show.

But it wasn't like Tsugumi could understand him, and she trusted Anya. Maybe it was just the season finale of something he was into.

Anya was still frowning. "Come on, we should probably start heading back," she said. "We wouldn't want to miss our reservation."

"Reservation?" Meme asked. "Did we have actual plans?"

"Well, I wasn't about to let you eat at some random café in the middle of nowhere," Anya said. "You have to see the very best that Yngling has to offer, and that includes food."

"Ack, why didn't you warn us?" Tsugumi ran her fingers through her hair frantically. "I'm not dressed for someplace fancy, and I didn't put any makeup on!"

"Don't worry about it," Anya said. "No one's going to bother you if you're with me. Besides, you look perfectly nice as it is, and I'm sure you can win people over with your commoner charm."

Tsugumi blinked. That was nice, but speaking of commoner charm, since when did Anya disparage cafes like that? Tsugumi would have expected her to jump at the chance to eat like a normal person, especially since she'd already said she didn't get many chances to explore the town.

Anya had already turned around and started walking, presumably in the direction of this restaurant. Tsugumi was about to follow when Meme put a hand on her shoulder. "Does this seem weird to you?" she asked in an undertone.

"Yeah," Tsugumi said, relieved. "A fancy restaurant? Anya? I would have thought she'd love finding the shadiest bar in the city."

"I was talking about that guy, but you're right, that's weird too." Meme hummed thoughtfully. "Now probably isn't the time to discuss it, though. Anya won't be happy if we get left behind."

Meme ran to catch up. Tsugumi shook her head to clear it, then followed as best she could.

The lunch was exactly as terrifying as Tsugumi had feared. She and Meme had been the only ones who weren't impeccably attired, though Anya kept insisting their uniforms counted, despite not even being dress uniforms.

It didn't help that Tsugumi hadn't known what Ynglish manners were like. She ended up reverting to what she did at the DWMA, which was itself a horrible mashup of American and Japanese customs that made no sense anywhere else. The other people at the restaurant had been too fancy and mannerly to stare, but she had no doubt that they would have if they'd been free to.

To make things even more fun, she'd been so focused on her surroundings, she wasn't really able to focus on the conversation. Meme seemed to have similar problems, which left Anya to try to maintain the entire conversation by herself. And since they'd been together for the whole day and had caught up the previous night, it was awkward all around.

But at last the meal was over, and they were able to escape. Tsugumi felt bad leaving before they'd dealt with the check, but Anya insisted that someone would come by to handle it in a few minutes. By that point, Tsugumi had no interest in staying any longer than she had to, so she didn't argue.

Things were a little better after that. Anya was able to find other things for them to do that were interesting and not overly stressful. Most of them were even officially open by that point, so they weren't getting special treatment, or at least not as obviously. Their destinations were still suspiciously uncrowded, but Tsugumi didn't exactly mind that.

They finished their day by visiting the cathedral Anya had mentioned earlier. Its stained-glass windows were positioned to catch the sun as it went down, filling the space with color. Anya claimed the effect was even better on the solstice, but Tsugumi wasn't sure how. It had been breath-taking as it was.

Anya spent most of the drive back grilling them about their reactions to absolutely everything. Tsugumi did her best to give specific and positive answers, which Anya seemed to appreciate. Meme was more effusive, but less able to give specifics.

By the time they made it back to the castle, the awkwardness of lunch was all but forgotten. Supper was a much more casual affair, and they were able to maintain a light conversation without any difficulty.

As the meal wound down, Anya admitted that she was probably going to have to deal with royal responsibilities again tomorrow. "I know, this can't be fun for you either, and I apologize." She grimaced. "At least this time we have advanced warning?"

"It's okay, this way we can sleep in!" Meme said. "And then we'll be ready for whatever you have planned for us next time."

"It's fine, Anya," Tsugumi said gently. "We understand."

Anya's eyebrows were still drawn, but she accepted their reassurance and changed the subject. They talked for another half hour about nothing in particular, but eventually Anya had to beg off, since she was going to have to wake up early again the next day.

She walked them back to their rooms again, wished them a good night, and left. Meme turned to Tsugumi. "Hey, does Anya seem upset to you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was noticing that last night," Tsugumi said.

"Good, so I'm not just imagining things. Probably." Meme paused. "Oh, you should probably come into my room. Unless you want to talk in the hallway, but this will be more comfortable."

Tsugumi allowed herself to be dragged into Meme's room. She hadn't actually been inside it, but it looked pretty much the same as hers. The servants' influence was apparent, as the room was far cleaner than Meme could manage on her own.

Meme jumped onto the bed, and Tsugumi sat down next to her. "So, Anya," she said.

"Right!" Meme pointed at Tsugumi. "So, she's clearly excited to have us here, right?" But she also looks upset about something."

"Maybe she's just upset that we're not spending as much time together as she'd hoped?" Tsugumi wasn't sure she believed it was that simple, but it would be nice to have a clear solution.

Meme didn't seem convinced either. "Maybe. I'd like to talk to her about it, but you know what Anya is like."

Tsugumi knew what she was getting at, but the phrasing seemed unnecessarily harsh. She was uncomfortably aware that they were gossiping behind Anya's back. They had good intentions, but still, it seemed wrong. "Yeah," she said at last. "Maybe we can get together after our expedition and talk for real."

"That would be good," Meme said.

They sat staring at the wall. "Anyway, good night," Tsugumi said.

"Night!"

Tsugumi stood up and went back to her own room, trying to ignore the feeling of distance she was getting from both of her partners.


	4. Distraction

The next morning went much the same as the day before their tour of the capital. They slept late, met up for breakfast, and relied on the driver to know someplace they could go to be seen. They spent most of the drive in silence. Every now and then, Meme pointed out a herd of cows or a pretty field as they passed it. Tsugumi tried to muster up some enthusiasm for them, but her success was mixed at best.

The town they arrived in looked much the same as the one they'd been to last time. There wasn't a cathedral, though, nor a convenient market to distract them. They were dropped off on what she was assured was the main street with instructions to come back when they were ready to leave.

They walked away from the car, then stopped to look around. "Can you read any of these signs?" Tsugumi asked.

Meme pointed to a store across the street. "No, but that one looks like it could be a bookstore."

Tsugumi squinted. It could have been a bookstore, or a drugstore, or possibly a grocery store themed around books. She hummed. "Do you want to just pick a direction and start walking?"

"Sure!" Meme closed her eyes and began spinning around, employing the ancient DWMA technique for choosing a direction. "Tell me when."

Tsugumi watched her spin, trying not to pay attention to which direction she was facing. "Now!"

Meme stopped and staggered a bit, then pointed straight ahead. "Okay, let's go!"

They walked down the street, trying to act like they knew what they were doing. For Tsugumi, this involved keeping an eye on everything around her and making it clear that she was prepared for anything that might attack her. This had the unfortunate side effect of putting her on edge. Logically, she knew that there wasn't anything to worry about, but the act of watching was itself stressful. It was hard to convince herself that no, there wasn't an actual threat, she was just acting like there was.

When Meme spoke up, it took everything Tsugumi had not to scream. "This doesn't seem very helpful," Meme said.

"Y-yeah." Tsugumi took a breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "I don't really know what else we should be doing, though. Do you have any better ideas?"

Meme pulled out her cell phone. "Let me try something." She pulled up a GPS app, but it just displayed a "signal not found" message. "Drat. Okay, so that's not going to work."

Tsugumi frowned at the screen. "Did you not get an international plan? I thought there was that DWMA student deal."

"Maybe," Meme said. She poked at her phone again, but it stubbornly refused to connect. "Maybe I just forgot to get it before we left?"

"I guess." Tsugumi got out her own phone. "That's okay. I'm pretty sure I switched to it." She pulled up her own GPS, but got the same error. "I thought I did, at least."

"Well," Meme said. "That's unfortunate."

"Yeah, seriously." Tsugumi put her phone back in her pocket. She must have forgotten in all the commotion before they'd left, even though she could have sworn she'd upgraded her plan. Well, it was too late now. "So now what?"

"I guess we just walk."

They wandered for a while longer, rather more disheartened. As they kept walking, the shops gave way to offices, which they didn't even have much to look at. The streets were emptier, and there weren't any store windows to distract them.

So when Tsugumi caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, she whirled to face it, prepared for an ambush. She didn't see anyone, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

She scanned the street again, feeling a little foolish but unwilling to take the risk that there was an actual threat. She had definitely seen something moving, and while there were still a few people milling around none of them seemed to be what she'd seen.

There was another flash, this time darting into an alley. Tsugumi transformed her hand before creeping to follow it. This would count as a show of power at least, right?

She poked her head around the corner, not sure what to expect. The alley was surprisingly clean, she thought, with almost no litter. There was a dumpster, and behind it was the thing that she'd seen moving: a small, white, fluffy dog.

And now she just felt silly. At least no one seemed to have followed her into the alley. And now she had more important things to worry about, like a dog! She changed her hand back into its normal shape and bent down to let the dog sniff it. "Hey there, little guy," she said, trying not to startle it. "What are you doing here?"

The dog smelled her hand, then shoved his head under it to be petted. Tsugumi laughed. "Wow, you're demanding, aren't you? Well, if you insist."

She sat and played with the dog for a while longer. She hadn't gotten to do this since leaving for the DWMA, and she'd almost forgotten how much she missed having a dog. It just wasn't the same when Kim brought in strays to take care of, though part of that was because Kim would charge you to pet them.

Eventually, the dog seemed to have gotten its fill of petting and ran back under the dumpster. That was probably unsanitary, now that Tsugumi was thinking about it, but she could always wash her hands. She stood up and walked out of the alley, looking for someplace that might let her use its restroom. Something seemed off, though.

It took her a moment, but then she realized that Meme was nowhere in sight. Her anxiety rocketed back up. Had she really managed to lose her already? And they already knew their GPSs didn't work, so if they got lost and couldn't find each other they wouldn't be able to pull up a map. They could wander for hours, and they wouldn't even be able to ask for directions because apparently no one spoke English.

Tsugumi turned around, trying to retrace their steps in case Meme had noticed and gone back to the car. She soon realized that spinning around randomly might not have been the best way to choose their directions, because she had paid no attention to their surroundings and now nothing looked familiar. She might have passed this building before, but it might also just be that it looked identical to every building in a five block radius.

She wasn't sure how long she was walking in circles, but eventually one of the shopkeepers took pity on her. They stuck their head out the door of their shop. "Are you lost?"

"I – yes," Tsugumi admitted. She wasn't particularly worried about her pride anymore. She just wanted to be done with this disaster of an outing.

"I thought you might be. You don't look local, and I'm pretty sure I've seen you walk past three times in the last fifteen minutes." The shopkeeper's English was strongly accented, but clear and fluent.

"Did you happen to see a girl with light brown hair walk past? She was wearing a yellow sweater and she had her hair in a side ponytail."

"Hmm." The shopkeeper thought for a moment, then shook their head. "I don't think so. I'm sorry. Do you know where she was going?"

Of course not, that would have been far too easy. "Not really," she said. "Sorry to keep bothering you, but could you direct me to the main street? We're supposed to meet up there."

"It's no problem," the shopkeeper said. They gave her a fairly simple set of directions. As it turned out, Tsugumi had been heading in roughly the right direction. She thanked the shopkeeper and left, wishing she had money to spend in their store.

Ten minutes later, she found herself back at the parking structure they'd started at. She stopped by the car, but Meme wasn't there. The driver offered to help look, but Tsugumi really didn't want to bother her further. "If you're sure," the driver said.

Tsugumi headed back to the street, ending up on a bench next to the structure so she could keep an eye out for Meme. She figured she'd give her another hour or so before giving in and asking for help.

As she waited, she tried to distract herself by people-watching. She was always interested in the ways people in Death City differed from people in Japan, and the people of Yngling were different from them both. They weren't as personable as the Death Children, content to leave others alone and be left alone in turn. But they also weren't as strict about things like crosswalks as people in Japan, walking where they pleased without particular concern for those it might affect.

It was interesting, but the more she watched, the more it reminded her that she was lost and alone in a foreign country. She really hoped she wasn't going to start crying. Somehow, she didn't think that would inspire confidence in the people of Yngling.

Thankfully, Meme showed up not too long after she sat down. She was waving at Tsugumi and smiling broadly, as usual. "Tsugumi, guess what! I was talking to this guy, and he said that the royal barracks are right by the castle! And apparently their training grounds are supposed to be really good, too. Wouldn't it be cool to do some training there? We could even try to learn some of Anya's techniques and surprise her!"

Tsugumi tried to smile back. She didn't want Meme to know that she'd freaked out after like five minutes on her own. "Where were you, anyway?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound as petulant as she felt.

Meme furrowed her brow. "I'm not sure. We were together earlier, right? But then you weren't there, and I did… something. And then I talked to that guy, and now I'm here!" She smiled again, the slightly brittle smile she always used when she wanted to brush past a hole in her memory. "It all worked out, right?"

"Yeah," Tsugumi said lamely. "Come on, let's go back to the car. We can talk on the way back, right?"

She hadn't meant to sound that unenthusiastic; after all, it had worked out, and she was genuinely interested in hearing Meme's thoughts about their expedition. It sounded like she'd probably gotten mixed up in some kind of wacky misadventure, and Tsugumi would have loved to hear any of it that Meme could remember. But she couldn't get past her worries from earlier. This time it had worked out, but what if it happened again?

Thankfully, Meme didn't seem to notice. She chattered away about her conversation about the royal training, and Tsugumi smiled and nodded along. She wished she could make herself be more engaged. It felt like she'd spent a lot of time detached recently, even when she was talking to her partners. She kind of hated it. She felt like they were growing apart, and she didn't know how to stop it.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. This was probably just a rough patch, and soon things would settle down and everything would be exactly how it was before. And if that thought made her feel anything other than relief, she was sure it was just nerves.

She pulled her mind back to what Meme was saying. She was going to act like a good friend, no matter how terrified she was that she wasn't one.

Tsugumi's feelings of separation extended into supper, unfortunately. Meme told Anya what she'd discovered about the barracks, and Anya's smile was even more forced than Tsugumi's had been. "That's great," she said, before launching into a tirade about how boring her meetings had been. The rant itself wasn't that much better, but neither of them was willing to call her on it.

When she wound down, there was a pause in the conversation. Meme hesitantly started talking again. "So, about the training…"

"You should definitely look into it," Anya said slowly. "You can ask one of the servants to show you to the barracks, and since they know you're with me it should be fine."

"What about our 'patrols'?" Tsugumi asked, narrowly avoiding using air quotes. She knew that they had a purpose, but still, they made her feel kind of silly. She didn't want to have to go on her own. She was barely handling it with a partner, as they'd proven earlier that day.

She should probably work on that, actually, but her clinginess was a problem for later.

Anya blinked at her. "You probably don't have to go out every day," she said. "In fact, not going might help reassure people that there isn't a real threat. Spending time training in a public space will probably be enough to make you look strong."

"That's great," Tsugumi said, trying to mean it. She was happy for Meme, and besides, they'd been spending a lot of time together. It would be nice to get some time to spend one-on-one with Anya, if she ever got a break from being an important person.

Okay, yeah, so she was probably going to end up alone in an unfamiliar castle where she knew almost no one. That was cool too.

There was a clatter from across the table. "Whoops," Meme said, bending down to pick up her fork. "Sorry about that. Anyway, thanks Anya! That sounds great!"

"Of course," Anya said. She smiled, but it was the same smile she'd used when she introduced them to the king and queen.

Tsugumi wished there was something she could do about it. Things were weird right now, and it sucked, and even if she couldn't fix it she wanted to remind her partners how much she cared about them.

"So," she said. "If you're doing that tomorrow, we probably won't have to get up super early, right? So we have time to hang out this evening?"

Anya clapped her hands together. "An excellent idea, Tsugumi, and I think I know just the thing. If you are to properly understand the people of Yngling, you need to understand the culture. And the best way to do that is to watch popular Ynglish movies."

"Of course," Meme said. "That sounds like a very important duty."

"Exactly." Anya stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I will retrieve a selection of culturally significant films."

She raced off excitedly. Tsugumi was pleased with herself until she saw Meme watching her from across the table. It seemed silly to start a conversation when Anya would be back in a few minutes, but just sitting in silence seemed weird, and Tsugumi couldn't remember how they'd handled similar situations in the past. She was about to comment on the weather or something equally inane when Anya ran back in brandishing a number of DVDs. "I think these are our best options for tonight," she said.

Tsugumi leaned over carefully, trying to read the titles without getting smacked in the face by an overeager meister. She was a little surprised when she saw the DVD cases. "… Anya, these all look like terrible YA movies."

"Ooh!" Meme said. "Do you have the Papermoon series? I love making fun of those."

Anya sniffed. "Excuse me, these are only the finest Ynglish classics. No child makes it to school age before seeing one of these masterpieces." She looked at Tsugumi and grinned. "Admittedly, when seen from an outsider's perspective they are also terrible YA movies."

Meme was positively cackling, and Tsugumi was struggling not to join her. "Seriously?"

"Of course," Anya said. "I would never lie about our esteemed cinematic tradition."

Tsugumi looked over the titles again, trying to decide which seemed the most clichéd and hackneyed. "If you're such an expert, what did you think of 'the Tragic Tale of the Boy who was Also a Hawk'?"

"Good eye, Tsugumi. That's a heartwarming tale of personal growth and self-acceptance, told through the lens of a boy cursed to turn into a hawk whenever he feels extreme emotions." Anya paused. "Admittedly, the title works better in Ynglish."

"Wait, so why do you have all these movies in English, anyway?" Meme asked. "I've never seen them in any of the stores in Death City."

"Oh, I doubt anyone outside Yngling has seen them," Anya said. She blushed. "But I needed a way to practice my English, so I may have gotten my parents to hire people to dub my favorite movies…"

"And you picked this one?" Meme looked into Anya's eyes, expression grave. "Anya. No."

"Just wait until you see it, okay? It's better than it sounds."

Tsugumi stood up, her chair squealing horribly as she pushed it back. She winced, then gathered her thoughts. "Then there's only one thing to do. Where's the biggest screen in the castle?"

Anya stood up too, at which point Meme did as well. "I know just the place," Anya said. "We can even make popcorn!"

As it turned out, the place Anya had in mind was a room with a screen the size of most movie theaters'. She even had a fancy popcorn machine, because apparently microwaves were too common or something. Tsugumi wasn't going to complain about getting a private screening of one of Anya's favorite movies, though.

They settled down on a couch that was probably too close to the screen to be entirely healthy. Anya spent the first half hour watching their reactions eagerly, so of course Meme and Tsugumi started making snarky comments. Anya kept shushing them, but she was still smiling, and every now and then she'd join in.

As the movie went on, they found themselves invested in the plot, and the comments gave way to avid watching. By the end, Tsugumi was scrubbing at her eyes, and Meme was openly crying. Even Anya was sniffling, though she looked very pleased with herself. Tsugumi could practically feel the "I told you so" emanating off of her.

"What did you think of my 'terrible YA movie'?" she asked, once the end credits were over and everyone had calmed down a bit.

Meme sniffed loudly. "Why? Who decided this movie was necessary?"

"Well, it's sort of based on an old Ynglish story, or proverb, or something along those lines."

"I still think it had a terrible premise," Tsugumi said. "But that scene where the boy flew into the window… how did they make it so triumphant and so melancholy at the same time?"

"More importantly," Anya said. "Did you see the boy's relationship with that one crow? They understood each other so well."

"I ship it," Meme said.

They sat in silence for a moment, the satisfaction of a good movie gradually fading as they thought about having to split up for the evening. Tomorrow was likely to be kind of terrible, at least for Tsugumi, and she really didn't want to have to leave.

"You know, there are lots of other classic Ynglish movies," Anya said. "We could make a night of it. You want to be able to understand all the references, right?"

"Of course," Tsugumi said. "It only makes sense."

And that was how she found herself staying up all night to watch poorly dubbed movies that seemed to consist entirely of overdone tropes played seriously. It was perhaps the best decision she'd made all trip.


	5. Chelation

After crawling into bed at some ridiculous hour the night before, Tsugumi had expected to sleep through the morning. But here she was, staring at the ceiling at nine o'clock in the morning, trying to convince herself that she didn't really want to be awake.

Her brain refused to be swayed, and eventually she gave in and dragged herself out of bed. As little as she was looking forward to trying to occupy herself in a castle full of stuffy strangers, she liked the idea of counting cracks in the ceiling all day even less. At least once she got up she could try to explore.

She realized the flaw in that plan as she was washing her hair: it was entirely plausible that they wouldn't want strange foreign girls wandering through areas that could contain sensitive information. Her eyes widened, which was a mistake given the circumstances.

At least trying not to go blind killed another few minutes, right?

She'd expected to take her time eating breakfast, now that she finally had a chance to savor the luxurious dishes that were placed in front of her. But Meme and Anya both seemed to have gone off to their respective plans, and eating alone just felt sad. She ended up giving up halfway through the meal.

All of this meant that she was sitting around trying to make plans by ten. She didn't really want to go out alone, especially not after the debacle of the previous day. She didn't want to accidentally disrupt anything important, so she couldn't wander too far within the castle. She might have been able to make her way back to the movie theatre, but the idea of going alone back to the room where she'd just been laughing with her friends seemed less than ideal.

After one to many intrusions by servants who thought the room was empty, she ended up sitting in her room casting about for ideas. She started out on the bed, but then she noticed the window, which would at least give her something else to stare at. She was planning to watch the clouds or something, but when she made her way over, she realized that it overlooked a garden.

She'd almost mistaken it for a park at first, it was so large and well-tended. But the plants came right up to the castle's walls, and the grounds looked like they'd take far too much maintenance for a public park.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like the perfect compromise. She could escape the castle without having to fend for herself, or not really. She wouldn't even have to ask anyone for help!

It turned out she'd been a bit overoptimistic with that second part, as she still couldn't find her way out of the castle without assistance. She might have been able to make it to the main entrance, but she figured there had to be a backdoor that would take her straight to the gardens, and that sounded better than wandering around the outside walls.

When she got outside, she took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh air. It was kind of silly, since she'd been outside yesterday. There wasn't anything trapping her inside today but her own awkwardness, either. But just being outside the castle was already doing wonders to improve her mood.

She wandered aimlessly, choosing whichever path struck her fancy. She passed rows of neat flowerbeds, well-sculpted shrubs, immaculately manicured trees. She couldn't help but be impressed at the effect; it felt restrained and well-tended without being unnatural. It was as if the castle was so imposing, even the plants were on their best behavior. Every now and then she leaned in to sniff a flower, or look more closely at a familiar-looking plant, but for the most part she let mind wander.

Her pleasant blankness was eventually disturbed when she turned a corner and came across a gardener weeding one of the flowerbeds. She wasn't paying attention at first, so when they moved she couldn't stop herself from letting out a little "eep!"

The gardener looked up, and Tsugumi blushed, hoping she could blame it on the sun. She hadn't actually noticed the heat after two years of living in the desert, but the gardener had no way of knowing that. She had plausible deniability. "Sorry to bother you!" she said.

"You are fine," the gardener said. Their voice was rough, clearly not used to English, but their speech was firm and self-assured. "I was just caring for these flowers."

"They're very pretty," Tsugumi said without thinking. "This whole garden is so well-maintained! Do you take care of all of it?"

The gardener smiled. "No, no. It is too big for any one person to manage, especially an old woman such as myself. I just handle the delicate plants, the ones that would be crushed by less patient hands."

Tsugumi looked down automatically. She was still on the path, where there weren't any plants to crush, but it still seemed worth checking.

This time, the gardener actually started laughing. Tsugumi laughed too, slightly awkwardly. "You are fine, though I appreciate your care," the gardener said. "If you like, you may come watch me work."

Tsugumi's brain was telling her to leave before she did anything else stupid, but she was curious about what counted as a delicate plant and how you could take care of one. She enjoyed gardening, but she hadn't tried to grow anything more complex than a pumpkin. This sounded like it would take more effort than watering once a day and occasionally weeding.

She knelt down next to the gardener, wishing she was wearing something other than a uniform. She had a ton of them, as Anya had insisted on them for the trip, but that didn't make her happier about getting it dirty by sitting on the ground.

Even worse, when she woke up the next morning it would probably be clean and hung up in the wardrobe, with no sign it had ever been anything but pristine. She hated to make that kind of work for someone, especially in the middle of the night.

But she really wanted to see what the gardener was doing. Maybe later she could wash it in the bathroom sink.

The woman snapped her fingers, and Tsugumi pulled herself back to the present, grinning weakly. Right, she could worry about laundry later.

"So," the gardener said, her attention apparently still on the plants. "Why are you here?"

It was a question Tsugumi had asked herself many times over the last few days. "Oh, you know," she said. "Anya is a good friend of mine, so when she asked me to come help her country, I was honored to accept." Wait, should she have used Anya's title? Too late now, she supposed.

"I have heard the official explanation," the gardener said. "But what are you doing in my gardens today?"

"Oh." Tsugumi groped for an answer that didn't involve saddling a stranger with her emotional drama. "I had some free time today, and I'd seen the garden from the window in my room…"

"Mm-hmmm." Thankfully, she asked no more questions, despite her slightly dubious response. She continued her work for a bit, then stood up abruptly and began to brush the dirt off her gloves. Tsugumi stood up as well, feeling a little silly. Not for any particular reason, as far as she could tell, but just because it was becoming her natural state of being on this trip.

"Well," the gardener said. "We may as well get introductions out of the way. I am Yulia Nicoba, gardener for House Yngling."

She offered her hand, and Tsugumi shook it tentatively. She hadn't take off her gloves, but Tsugumi wasn't about to call attention to it, even though she'd gotten dirt on her hand. "Hi," she said instead. "I'm Tsugumi Harudori, student at the DWMA."

"Yes," Yulia said. "Now, Tsugumi. Would you actually like to learn, or are you just here to escape?"

Well, Tsugumi thought, it didn't take her long to see through me. But despite her motives for coming down in the first place, she was genuinely interested. "If you're willing to teach me, I'd love to learn," she said.

Yulia laughed. "Ah, you are a diplomat, aren't you? Very well, Miss Ambassador. Let us see if we can find a plant with a good temperament for teaching."

Tsugumi followed her through the garden, past several plants that apparently had different temperaments despite looking exactly the same as far as Tsugumi could tell. She still wasn't quite sure what it meant for a plant to have a temperament, but she guessed that was why she was learning.

Eventually Yulia seemed to find what she was looking for, as she crouched down in front of a bush. Tsugumi joined her on the ground, still a little confused. The bush seemed to be fully mature; was that really the best place to start? She would have expected at least an annual, something that would be more delicate and require more immediate care.

"This is the ziszelitam," Yulia said. "Its bark is supposed to have a calming effect, if you believe the hedge witches' tales. And if not, it is still a calm, sturdy plant, good for teaching."

"Okay," Tsugumi said. "What is it supposed to be teaching me?"

Yulia brandished a pair of gardening shears. Tsugumi wasn't quite sure where she'd produced them from, and was a little scared to find out. "Today, we will prune."

Tsugumi eyed the shears warily. "That seems like it could go very badly."

"Maybe." Yulia handed her the shears. "But this way you have an incentive to pay attention, instead of thinking about what is bothering you."

Tsugumi was less than encouraged by that. She could just see herself ruining the bush, and it somehow getting out and undermining the whole mission. But Yulia didn't seem at all worried, so she looked at the bush again, trying to figure out which branches to cut.

With Yulia's help, she found that she was actually able to get into it. There was something satisfying about being able to create order in even something this small, particularly since she knew that her mistakes would be gone within a month. Her cuts became more confident, until Yulia turned away to begin weeding in one of the other beds.

Tsugumi was eventually shaken out of her groove sometime in the middle of the afternoon. She hadn't had a particularly large breakfast, and she was gradually realizing that it wouldn't be enough to hold her until supper. Once she was paying attention to her body she also became uncomfortably aware that she was going to need to find a bathroom in the near future.

She looked over the bush one last time, then stood up. Her knees protested at the change in position. "Thank you again," she said.

Yulia looked up at her. "Are you ready to be done for today, then? That is fair. You can come back again tomorrow, if you wish to continue. There are always plants that need care somewhere in this behemoth of a garden."

"I can imagine," Tsugumi said. "How many people does it even take to maintain it?"

"Too many, and too few." Yulia's eyes twinkled. "How is that for a cryptic mentor statement? Now you will have to come back."

Tsugumi laughed, a little too late. "You got me. I wasn't interested in the gardening, but not knowing about the gardeners would haunt me."

"As it should." Yulia stood up and dusted her gloves off. "Go eat something, Tsugumi. I will be here whenever you are ready to return."

Tsugumi bowed and left. She was able to find the castle entrance with thankfully little difficulty, at which point she set about the much more complicated task of locating a bathroom.

By the time Tsugumi found her way to a kitchen, the staff was already working on preparing supper. She supposed it made sense, given the number of people they were expected to feed and the standards said food would be held to, but it meant that she didn't really want to ask for anything. It would seem like an insult to the meal they were currently preparing, or so she feared. Two hours wasn't that long to wait, right?

She did end up having to leave the kitchen. She felt like she was getting in the way, and the smell of food was really not helping her hunger. She wandered the hallways for a while, looking for the dining room they'd met at after their so-called patrols. She didn't know if they'd be meeting there that night, but it was something to do, and if her partners did want to meet up she definitely wasn't willing to miss it.

She got there pretty quickly, at least compared to previous attempts at stumbling through the castle. Of course, this meant she had nothing to do but wait, but she didn't want to risk actually getting lost when she went out to find something to do. She sat at the table and resigned herself to a long wait.

Fortunately, it wasn't that long before Anya joined her. "Ah, Tsugumi!" she said as she walked in. "I'm glad you're here; I was worried I'd have to go looking for you. How was your day?"

"Eh, it was all right." Tsugumi looked down at the table. "I got to check out the gardens, that was pretty cool."

Anya leaned closer. "You are the master of commoner gardening. So tell me: did you find anything interesting out there?"

Tsugumi laughed awkwardly. "Those were just pumpkins, Anya. It wasn't that difficult."

Anya waved a hand dismissively. "And how many of us actually knew how to grow pumpkins? Don't sell yourself short."

"… Right. Anyway, I actually got to meet one of the gardeners, and she was really cool. She offered to teach me, and she let me prune some of the bushes!" She was about to launch into a more detailed description of the gardens and what Yulia had said and done when she realized that Anya probably knew half of this already and didn't care about the rest. She cut herself off. "So, yeah. How was your day?"

Anya grimaced. "Tedious. Honestly, I'd much rather hear about what you were doing. I haven't gotten to see the gardens in years, how are they?"

"Oh, you know, they probably haven't changed that much." Tsugumi resisted the urge to scuff her feet like a shy toddler. "I appreciate that you're willing to listen, but really, this can't be that interesting to you. And I'm sure you got something done today, so how was that?"

Anya rolled her eyes. "No, I really didn't. And I kind of wanted to talk to Meme about it."

"Speaking of Meme," Tsugumi said, "have you seen her today?"

"No," Anya said slowly. The girls had a simultaneous realization. "We'd better go get her," Anya said, standing.

Tsugumi stood as well. "She can't have gotten that lost, right?"

Neither bothered to point out the naïve optimism of that.

"Where are the barracks, anyway?" Tsugumi asked as they strode through the never-ending halls.

"All the way this way," Anya said. "They're off to the side of the building, so if Meme tries to go anywhere we should pass her. Hopefully."

"I see," Tsugumi said dubiously.

"Honestly, I'm planning to ask one of the guards if she mentioned where she was going. That should give us a general direction, at least."

"I mean, she was probably looking for us anyway. Hopefully we'll just run into her."

"Hopefully."

They did manage to find Meme before they had to press any servants into the search. She'd come up from behind them, rounding a corner and suddenly shouting a greeting when she saw them.

She told them that she'd been trying to get to her room, but had gotten turned around. No one was surprised by this explanation. "How was your training?" Anya asked instead.

"Well, I'm not really sure, but judging by how tired my muscles are I think it went well." Meme flexed speculatively. "I guess I'll find out when I go back tomorrow!"

"Oh." Anya's steps faltered. "That's… that's actually what I wanted to talk to the two of you about. The preparations for the demonstration seem to have gone more quickly than anticipated, and they want to hold it tomorrow."

Tsugumi's eyes widened. "Already? But, we haven't gotten to prepare a routine, and we haven't even fought together in like a month!"

Anya shook her head. "Trust me, I'm not thrilled about it either. I was expected to choreograph something ahead of time so we had a chance to practice, because we really have to get this right. Instead, we're going to be sent into an arena and charged at by a bunch of actors, so we'll have to react in the moment without causing any actual damage. This is definitely not my idea of a good time."

"It's okay," Meme said. "We're good at winging things." She laughed, but it sounded strained. "Besides, who knows if I would even be able to remember a complex routine…"

"Well, the plan was to practice it enough that it would become muscle memory." They reached the dining room once again. As Anya opened the door, she muttered, "It's not you I'm worried about anyway."

"Can we plan something small this evening?" Tsugumi asked. "I know we won't be able to do something super detailed, but if you'd feel better with a plan we can definitely make one."

She personally wasn't that worried about it; she had faith in her meisters, and anyway her part would be basically the same whether or not they had a plan. But Anya seemed to be freaking out about it, and Tsugumi wasn't quite sure why, but there wasn't much she wouldn't do to make her feel better.

"I don't know," Anya said. She sat down and began drumming her fingers on the table. "We hardly have any time, and none of us know the space. We could go look at it, I suppose, but it's late and we probably don't want to practice in the dark. Meme's also probably still tired from earlier…"

"Well, what time is the thing tomorrow?" Meme asked.

"One, I think."

"So we can make our plan now and go try it out in the arena tomorrow morning, right?"

"I suppose so. Thank you, both of you." At last, Anya smiled, and wow she was beautiful, Tsugumi thought. "I'll have someone bring us paper after supper so we can strategize, but until then, I think we should find something less stressful to talk about."

They ending up talking about more of Anya's favorite childhood movies, after the last ones had made such an impression. There was an eclectic mix of Ynglish classics and things that were more widely known.

"Yngling was pretty self-contained until about fifty years ago," Anya said. "It means that foreign movies and things are generally either seized upon and adored or quietly ignored. I loved Road to El Dorado, but I'd never seen a Disney movie before coming to Death City." She primly ignored Tsugumi and Meme's mock horror.

As soon as she was done eating, Anya pushed her dishes to the side and grabbed a stack of paper. She pulled a pen from her sleeves; Tsugumi could only assume she'd brought it with her from one of her meetings, though she had no idea why.

Anya dramatically drew an oval on the topmost sheet. "This will be our space," she announced. "People will be entering the field from the stands here and exiting here." She marked off two sides of the oval. "Now, I was thinking that for maximum dramatic effect, we'd let people assume that you two were the only ones fighting. Then, in the heat of battle when all seems lost, I could take up arms and perform a daring rescue."

"Sure!" Meme said. "That sounds cool."

"Now, I was thinking that you two would start here in the center. You'd be fighting off waves of opponents for a bit, if that's okay with you." She forged on without waiting for an answer, describing her plans in increasing detail. Tsugumi suspected that she'd just wanted an excuse to feel like she had some control over the proceedings, but she could hardly blame her.

Meme nodded along politely, but clearly wasn't particularly invested in any of it. Anya was as good as her word, mostly mapping out what she would do when she was fighting. She gave Meme suggestions for major details, but for the most part was willing to back off. She also mostly left Tsugumi alone, as there were only so many ways to map out "be a pointy stick and let me stab people with you".

By the end of the evening, she'd managed to work out the basics of a reasonably complex routine that should still work in most settings. Tsugumi was seriously impressed. It wasn't like they had much chance to plan out their sparring practices.

"And that's pretty much it," Anya said, drawing one last arrow on a sheet practically covered in them. "What do you two think?"

"Wow," Tsugumi said. "When I suggested coming up with a basic outline, I wasn't expecting anything this detailed. Way to go, Anya!"

"Yeah!" Meme mumbled sleepily. Her head was propped up on one hand, and while she was smiling her eyes kept fluttering closed. "You did a really good job…"

"Thank you, but it was nothing," Anya picked up the discarded stack of paper. "I think that's enough for tonight, though. We need to be in top shape for tomorrow. We should probably all go straight to bed."

Tsugumi didn't feel tired, but Meme yawned, which made her yawn too. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea," she said.

Anya stood up suddenly, jolting Meme slightly more awake. "Okay, then I'm off. I'll have someone wake you both tomorrow so we can get ready. I'd come myself, but you know how preparing for these things is. I'll be glad if we see each other before noon, you know? Anyway, good night, I'll see you both tomorrow. Sleep well!"

She turned around and strode out of the room. "Good night!" Tsugumi called after her. Meme repeated the sentiment blearily, but by that point Anya was well out of earshot.

"I think I'm going to bed too," Tsugumi said. She stood up and stretched. "Are you coming?"

"In a minute." Meme shook her head, pulling herself to her feet. "Okay, I guess I'm ready. Ugh, why am I so tired?"

"Well, you did spend all day training with the royal guard. That might have something to do with it."

"Oh yeah."

Meme was clearly too tired to maintain a coherent conversation, so Tsugumi didn't push her. This had the unfortunate side effect of leaving her to her own thoughts, which immediately turned to worrying about the demonstration. She didn't think there was anything to worry about, but tell that to her brain.

After all, they were going to be showing off in front of an entire country. She knew that her meisters were good, and even if they hadn't practiced this particular routine they did have a lot of practice fighting as a team. They should be fine.

But what if she'd somehow forgotten how to let someone wield her? Even worse, she'd been feeling like they were growing apart lately. What if they couldn't resonate? They'd look stupid in front of everyone, and then their partnership would break up and Anya would never want to talk to her again. She'd be stuck here, unable to talk to one of her best friends, and everything was going to go wrong –

She nearly walked into her door, only realizing it was there by the fact that Meme had stopped. "Good night," she mumbled as she went into her room.

"Good night," Tsugumi said weakly.

Meme stopped in her doorway for an instant, but resumed moving so quickly Tsugumi thought she might have imagined it. She decided that staying awake any longer was just inviting her brain to keep dwelling, so she went through her nightly routine and went to bed.

Once she was lying down, she realized how tired she was, though she didn't quite know why. Her exhaustion soon won out, and she slipped into unconsciousness.


	6. Presentation

Tsugumi was woken up the next morning by one of the castle's many servants. She felt like by now she should be able to at least tell most of them apart, but she had no idea who this was. "Madam, the tournament is today," they said. "Their majesties wish to ensure that you are ready. Your performance today will reflect on the entire country."

Great, as if there wasn't enough pressure on her already. Couldn't they have waited for her to wake up a little before starting the ominous pronouncements? She rubbed her eyes and tried to sound alert. "Of course."

The servant bowed. "Breakfast should be here shortly, along with the royal appearance advisor. You'll be discussing how you wish to present yourself so that the makeup artist will be ready as soon as you are. If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to let me know." They swept out of the room before Tsugumi could respond.

She had just pulled on her uniform when breakfast arrived, carried by a woman wearing heels far too high for this hour of the morning. She frowned when she saw Tsugumi. "Is that what you're planning to wear today?" She held out the tray. "Here, eat quickly."

Tsugumi blinked at and took the tray, sitting back down on the bed. The woman sat down next to her. "I was planning to," she said.

The woman sighed ostentatiously. "If you must," she said. "We can work with that. We'll be sure to play up the 'mature and professional' angle without making you look too severe."

Tsugumi nodded, her mouth full. It sounded like this woman had things under control, which was just as well. Tsugumi certainly didn't know what was going on.

"Now, do you have thoughts on your hairstyle?"

Tsugumi thought about it. They were going for mature and professional, and Jackie was the most mature person she knew, so… "Maybe a bun?"

The woman frowned. "We'll make it work. I'll just have to give the makeup artist very specific instructions." She began muttering notes to herself. Tsugumi had thought she was okay with makeup, but she couldn't follow them in the slightest.

"Okay, that will do for now. I'll stop by to check on you and to drop off your shoes before you go out." The woman stood up and dusted herself off. She left the room as briskly as she'd entered it.

Tsugumi ate the rest of her food absent-mindedly, trying to figure out what the plan was. A thought occurred to her. They'd spent all this time talking about her appearance, but this was a combat demonstration. No one would even see her outfit for more than a minute. If anything, they should be trying to polish her blades, which wouldn't be necessary because she was a beautiful weapon, thank you.

She had to smile at her own ridiculousness. She was apparently more nervous than she thought, now that they were bringing her appearance into things. She would be fine, though. She knew her friends, and while they might not be EAT students they were still highly competent meisters. She wasn't exactly a terrible weapon, either. They would handle the fighting with no problems, like they'd been doing for years now, and if her appearance wasn't good enough for the king and queen that was what they had consultants for. Everything was fine.

She finished her breakfast, stood up and stretched. She took a deep breath to brace herself, then picked up the tray and brought it out to the hall. Waiting for her were the servant from before and yet another stranger. Judging by the bag he was carrying, he seemed to be the promised makeup artist.

Tsugumi smiled at him politely. "Thank you for working with me," she said.

"Don't be silly," he said. "It's my duty to present the best possible image of the royal family and its associates."

He waved his hands at her, chivvying her back into the room and then into the bathroom. She came to a stop in front of the gratuitously large dressing table. "Sit," he said, rummaging through his bag.

Tsugumi did so, though she twisted to watch as he pulled out his tools. He kept producing supplies, looking at them for a moment, and putting them back, before grabbing another almost identical shade. This process was repeated for blush, lipstick, and eyeshadow, while Tsugumi got more and more lost.

At last he settled on his perfect palette and turned her to face the mirror. "Big day today, huh?" he said as he began to apply the foundation. Tsugumi sat as still as she could, unsure how to respond without moving her face. Fortunately, he seemed used to holding one-sided conversations. "I have to say, I'm looking forward to seeing you girls at work. I've heard a lot about you DWMA people. Weren't you the ones who caused that panic last month? You know, with the sky turning red and everyone going nuts?"

Tsugumi suppressed a wince. Was that really how people outside the DWMA had seen the almost-apocalypse: a minor oddity? Were they really blaming the DWMA for it? Didn't they know that Maka had saved their lives, and the world with it?

As if he was reading her thoughts, the stylist continued, "Oh, sure, I'm sure you guys were also the ones who took care of the whole mess. But that's only appropriate, since it was your fault in the first place.

"I'm sure you girls had nothing to do with it, though. You seem perfectly nice, and like I said, I can't wait to see you in action."

Tsugumi hummed vaguely and tried to block out his words. She really didn't have the time or energy to deal with this right now. She was going to focus on the demonstration, and they were going to have fun and look cool and reassure everyone. This was just a lone weirdo. There were fringe groups everywhere, and Yngling was no different. It was just her luck that she had to be stuck with this guy, but it didn't matter in the end.

He finally stopped talking and stepped back, gesturing to the mirror with a flourish. "Well, dear, what do you think?"

Oh, right, the makeup. Somewhere in all the obnoxiousness she'd completely forgotten that she was there for a reason. She looked at her reflection, not sure quite what to expect from the man's demeanor.

He may not have known anything about the DWMA, but he clearly knew his makeup. She had to stop herself from shaking her head, as if it would dispel the image she saw reflected in the mirror. There was no way she looked that poised and composed. She still sometimes thought of herself as the girl who had to copy other people to feel even remotely grown up. The person in the mirror was the sort of person she would have imitated.

The makeup artist leaned over the chair, grinning. "What do you think?"

She tried to pull herself together, to act as if she was the person her reflection seemed to be. "It will do," she said. "I appreciate the effort."

She regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. She was going for mature and confident, not catty preteen! The stylist seemed unconcerned, however, simply nodding at his own reflection. "I would hope so," he said. "Now go, show me what you people can do."

Tsugumi walked away feeling more confused than motivated. What was he even talking about? And was she supposed to go straight to the arena, or to wait for instructions, or what?

She found the image consultant waiting for her in her room. As promised, she was holding a pair of shoes, and shoved them at Tsugumi as soon as she got close enough. "Here, try these on," she said. "It looks like the makeup artist was able to work his magic, thank goodness."

Tsugumi put the shoes on. They at least had the sense not to put her in high heels, instead giving her a pair of elegant black pumps. It was still more of a heel than she was used to, and she took a moment to wish for her boots back.

"Oh good, they fit," the consultant said. "In that case, I'm going to go deal with one of the fifty other things that need my attention."

Tsugumi's stylist stepped out of the bathroom and followed her out, leaving Tsugumi alone again. There wasn't much she could do without smudging her makeup or ruining her hair or something, so she did what she always did and started looking for her partners. Anya was still off in whatever part of the castle housed her room, so she went next door to Meme's instead. The door was open, so she walked straight in without bothering to knock.

Meme wasn't in the main room, but light was streaming out her bathroom door. Tsugumi peeked in to see that Meme had also been pressed into a makeup artist's chair. She wasn't quite done, the artist still hovering and putting on the finishing touches, but what was there made Tsugumi's heart skip a beat. If she'd undergone a transformation under her artist, Meme's had only brought out what was already there.

Her face was still soft and open, but where before she'd been friendly now she almost glowed. Tsugumi could practically picture the flower crown on her head. She smiled at something the makeup artist had said, and it looked like something out of a Disney movie.

Tsugumi took a step back and turned to face the empty room. It wasn't like this was the first time she'd been struck by how attractive her partners were. She just needed to calm down a little and then she'd be fine. She was still in love with love, but it wasn't like she was shallow enough to fall in love with someone over a makeover. Her feelings toward Meme were exactly the same as they'd always been, and the same as her feelings for Anya. It was fine.

Still, she thought it might be a good idea to wait in the bedroom until Meme was done.

When she finally appeared, the finishing touches had been put on her makeup, and Tsugumi nearly caught herself staring all over again. "Wow, you look great!" she said, as casually as she could.

Meme was practically beaming. "Yup!" she said. "And so do you!"

"Yeah, the image consultant people are kind of scary, but they know how to do their jobs." Tsugumi tugged at her skirt. "It's a shame no one's going to see me after the first minute or two."

"Well, you'll just have to look extra cute while you're still human, then." Meme said. Tsugumi smiled, and Meme's smile somehow widened even further. "Yeah, like that!"

Tsugumi shoved her shoulder. "Uh huh. Come on, let's go see what we're supposed to be doing."

They walked into the hallway and were greeted by yet another servant. It was getting a little creepy having all these people waiting for her, Tsugumi thought. She felt a little bad for them, but she also really wanted them to leave her alone.

"Her highness is almost done with her preparations," the servant said. "She wishes for you to join her in her room posthaste."

The news was welcome enough to make up for being ambushed. "Thanks!" Tsugumi said, practically running to find Anya.

She'd made it halfway up the staircase before she realized she had no idea where she was going. "Wait," she said.

"Don't look at me," Meme said. "Have we even been to her room before?"

"Nope." They looked at each other. Tsugumi groaned, realizing she'd have to back and talk to the servant again. "Okay, wait here. I'll be back soon."

After dashing down and back up the staircase, Tsugumi returned. She was irrationally proud of how little she was panting. "She's on the floor below this," she reported. "Apparently once you're in the right hallway, it's obvious which one is hers."

They went back down a flight, then turned into the hallway. In front of them was a large lump covered by a sheet, completely out of place in the otherwise orderly castle. Something about its shape seemed strangely familiar. She walked closer to examine it, her suspicions growing, until finally she lifted the sheet to reveal her old nemesis Josephine.

Of course. Tsugumi smiled and shook her head. She supposed that was one way to tell which room was Anya's. There was something weirdly comforting about seeing it here. She turned back to see Meme pulling out her phone. "Stay there, I want a picture!"

"But why?" Tsugumi asked. Despite her objection, she did as she was told.

"It's cute," Meme said. "I wonder what it's doing here, though."

"Anya brought it with her when she had to report back after we killed Shaula," Tsugumi said. "Anyway, I don't blame people for covering it with a sheet. I wouldn't want to see it when I was just trying to do my job either."

"Okay," Meme said. She seemed subdued at the mention of Shaula, but lifted her phone camera anyway. "Go on, shake its hand or something."

Tsugumi did so. "It's been too long, my dear Josephine."

"Perfect! Okay, let's go."

Tsugumi crowded behind Meme, trying to look at the phone screen. "Hold on, I want to see!"

"You can look with Anya."

Tsugumi pouted. "Fine."

They continued bickering as they opened the door to Anya's room, but when they saw what was inside they stopped abruptly. Like the rooms they were staying in it was enormous, but where theirs could have been DWMA classrooms, Anya's could have fit the entire Death Room. It was much less empty than theirs, with actual decorations instead of just stereotypical luxurious furniture.

Looking at those decorations, it was very obvious that this was Anya's room. American knickknacks and Japanese-styled trinkets cluttered the shelves, woodblock prints and pop art next to traditional Ynglish landscapes. The room was frankly a mess, though the floor was impeccably clean.

Tsugumi loved it immediately. She was reasonably sure that if she spent too long in it she'd get a headache, but it was hard not to smile when faced with something that Anya so clearly loved.

Like in the guest rooms, there was a bathroom attached at the back. Tsugumi went straight over, followed closely by Meme. Anya was sitting at a vanity while someone fussed with her hair. For the second time that day, Tsugumi was greeted with the sight of one of her closest friends in professional makeup.

Anya tended to wear makeup on a daily basis, so the effect wasn't as pronounced as it had been with Meme. Still, Tsugumi's jaw almost dropped before she got herself back under control. She was used to Anya looking regal. Now, she looked like a queen.

Meme seemed to be having similar thoughts, judging by her expression. Tsugumi nudged her, but she just smiled before announcing their presence. "Anya!"

Anya's head didn't move, but at the sound of Meme's voice her hands relaxed. "Hello, you two," she said. "Are you ready for today?"

"Yup," Tsugumi said, hoping she sounded excited.

"I'm glad," Anya said. "I've been really looking forward to this. It feels like it's been so long since we all fought together, between the evacuation and then all of this."

It had been a while since they'd fought at all, Tsugumi thought. She hoped they'd be okay. Still, Anya sounded genuinely excited about the demonstration, and there was no way Tsugumi was going to ruin that with her own ridiculous worries. "I know, right," she said.

"But today we can show the people of Yngling exactly how strong our bond is!" Anya was practically sparkling, and if she hadn't been stuck in the chair Tsugumi suspected she would be posing dramatically.

She really wasn't sure how to react to that, but thankfully Meme stepped in. "So what do we have planned, exactly?"

Anya launched into an explanation, as enthusiastically as if she hadn't gone over it three times in the last two days. "Oh, nothing major," she said. "Basically we'll be in a stadium, and you and Tsugumi will start by showing off some tricks. You know, fancy moves, maybe a little resonance, that sort of thing. Then an 'attacker' charges onto the field. You fight bravely as more and more people come in, but at last someone knocks you down, at which point I jump onto the field and promptly defeat him. I help you up, and the three of us smile prettily and maybe answer some questions from the press. Sound good?"

"Uh-huh!" Meme said. It was too late to change their plans even if she'd said no, but at least Tsugumi knew her meisters would be prepared.

The hairdresser stepped back, allowing Anya to move again. "What do you think, your highness?"

Anya twisted around, trying to see her hair. It had been curled and braided so it would stay out of her face, but still flowed elegantly down her back. She nodded decisively. "This is good, thank you. You are dismissed."

The hairdresser bowed and left the room. Anya jumped out of the chair and stuck a finger in the air dramatically. "All right! The demonstration begins in just over half an hour, so now is our chance to go scope out the area. After that, we can go over the plans in more detail while we wait to make our grand entrance."

She grabbed Tsugumi and Meme by the arm and dragged them with her as she all but flew out the door. "Come on, we're wasting time!"

Tsugumi did her best to keep up. She hoped Anya's enthusiasm would be well-founded.


	7. Fragmentation

They made their way to a part of the castle Tsugumi was fairly certain she'd never seen, though it was hard to be sure. Somehow, Anya managed to maintain her level of excitement the whole way.

They went out a door, followed a footpath, and then they were in an arena. Anya had explained that it was normally used to show off horses, though it was too small to race them. Still, it seemed like a good size for a fight, and other than a platform in the center the ground was level.

Anya began marking off places on the ground to show where she wanted them to stand for each move. Tsugumi did her best to follow along, but it seemed to have gotten much more complex since she'd last heard it. That was just begging for trouble. They were bound to mess it up at some point, and then they'd just be more stressed.

Anya looked up from where she was marking the landing for her backflip. "Are you listening to me?" she asked.

Meme looked up from where she was squatting, a compromise between her dramatic fall and not messing up her clothes. "Yeah! You're going to kick that guy in the face."

"That was three moves ago!" Anya threw her hands in the air. "Tsugumi, this concerns you too. What am I actually doing here?"

"A backflip, I think?" Tsugumi scratched her arm. "We're trying, but this is getting really complicated. I trust you to do whatever needs to be done in the moment, you know?"

Anya looked away. "Are you even taking this seriously? We've got less than an hour before we appear on national television!"

"Oh yeah," Meme said, standing. "When do we have to get into our places, again?"

"Hmm." Anya looked up at the sky. "Probably soon, now that you mention it. I guess this will just have to do, then." She dusted her skirts off sharply. "I'm counting on you two. Don't mess it up!"

She looked at them for a moment, making sure her point was made. Tsugumi fought the urge to fidget. This event was becoming far too tense, and it wasn't like the trip had exactly been relaxing until now.

Anya moved to return to the castle, and Tsugumi and Meme followed. They split up once they actually got back; Tsugumi and Meme would be coming on as the fighters, while Anya would be making an entrance with her family. What this meant was that Tsugumi ended up huddled behind a door with Meme, listening for their cue.

The speeches went on for far too long, in Tsugumi's mind. She'd already dealt with being presented once, did they really have to do it again? But at last they stopped talking about her in the abstract and began introducing her directly. She and Meme pushed the doors open together and walked up to the stage. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to talk themselves, as the demonstration was about to start. Not that the audience knew that.

The host continued to talk about their accomplishments and those of the DWMA, when suddenly an "audience member" jumped up and rushed onto the field. He wielded a longsword, charging right for their host.

Tsugumi relaxed. They'd finally reached something she was prepared for. She transformed and fell into Meme's grip with ease. Meme used the momentum of the transformation to slam Tsugumi's axe head into the attacker, driving him back and giving the host time to retreat.

More of the supposed audience members stood up, each revealing weapons of their own. They swarmed the field as if to catch Meme off guard.

Meme's form was perfect as always. She blocked and dodged with precision before striking out. Tsugumi knew it was all choreographed, if roughly, and even so she couldn't help but be impressed. Still, it would be easy to slip up if she let herself get complacent. She slipped into the focused but detached mindset of battle.

Meme continued to hack at people with her axe blade. Tsugumi was careful not to make herself too sharp; they didn't want to cut off anyone's limbs. She kept an eye on the people in the back. Meme could handle the ones in front of her, but if someone were to rush her suddenly it would be good to have a warning. Her fall was going to be controlled and as safe as possible if Tsugumi had anything to say about it.

Once Meme's single combat skills were established, their foes began attacking in groups. Meme wove between their attacks. She used the momentum from dodging to kick one man in the face while swing Tsugumi into a second.

The attacks became more and more coordinated, until they finally forced Meme to the ground. In a real fight, she would have used that to her advantage, slashing at people's legs and using her attackers to lever herself up. But they had to bring Anya into the fray somehow, so she stayed down. To increase the effect, she even let go of Tsugumi, though she stayed close to her.

Even knowing it was supposed to happen, watching people swarm her fallen meister set Tsugumi on edge. She was dying to shift back, to jump up and begin attacking people herself. She forced herself to stay where she was. It wasn't long before Anya picked her up, having vaulted down from the royals' box. As soon as she touched her, Tsugumi lengthened her spear point. She had to fight her instinct to sharpen it.

Anya's movements were even more fluid than Meme's. Her influence on the choreography showed in her easy grace. She took down one goon after another without disturbing her royal posture or elegance. It was almost disorienting for Tsugumi to watch. He was so used to seeing Anya either casual and ready to fight or formal and uncomfortable. Here, she managed to blend the two modes, maintaining her looseness of motion without losing her formal air.

To an outsider, that might seem like the "true" Anya, a perfect balance of the two faces she presented to the world. To Tsugumi, their souls intermingled in the fray, it just seemed exhausting.

Perhaps that explained what happened next.

Now that Anya had gotten a chance to show off, some of the combatants were hitting the ground and staying there, or even leaving the field entirely. The plan was to have Meme pull herself up in time for the three of them to dispatch the last few thugs together, at which point the "mastermind" would reveal himself and they would have a climactic showdown.

But as Anya was turning to deal with one of the last remaining attackers, her foot slipped. When she jabbed Tsugumi forward, it skidded, throwing her off-balance and sending her to the ground.

They weren't in true resonance, so Tsugumi was spared the full backlash through Anya's soul, but what she could feel was enough to make her wince. Meme was apparently able to feel at least some of it, as she pulled herself off the ground and grabbed Tsugumi. Anya tried to stop her, but couldn't quite make it to her feet.

Meme made short work of the last of the goons, and their mastermind had the presence of mind not to try to continue the show. Meme waited a moment to be sure, then ran to Anya, Tsugumi transforming as they ran. Anya had managed to prop herself up against the platform, but it was clear that her leg wouldn't hold her weight.

Neither of them bothered asking if she was okay. "What can we do?" Meme asked instead.

Anya waved them off. "Nothing, I'm fine. I just need to sit down for a little while. We don't need to stop the demonstration."

Meme gestured at the audience, which was murmuring worriedly. "It's a bit late for that," she said. "Come on, I can carry you back to the castle."

"I'm fine!" Anya pulled away and made another attempt at standing. She managed it for a second before toppling onto Tsugumi, who yelped and nearly fell herself.

Meme took this opportunity to pick Anya up in a bridal carry. "Nope, no more arguing. Let's go."

She began walking toward the exit. A crowd had already gathered to try to help their princess, but Meme waved them off. Tsugumi watched them milling around, wishing she could say something to reassure them. But until they knew how Anya was, she didn't think she'd be very convincing.

She ran after her meisters, eyes firmly on the ground.

The castle had its own dedicated doctor, because of course it did. Her office wasn't very large, but it was well equipped, and she had been alerted of the situation by the time they got there.

It took very little time to determine that Anya's foot was broken. It was only a fracture, but she wasn't going to be joining them on patrols anytime soon. Not that she didn't try to argue the doctor's judgment; this was Anya.

"Honestly, it's not that bad. I just landed on it wrong," she said. "Give me a few days and I'll be able to go out with you again, sooner if you get me some crutches."

The doctor frowned at her. "That isn't what I meant when I said it was just a fracture. It will still be weeks before your foot is fully healed, and until then I don't want you to get into any sort of combat situations. Even with crutches, when things got tense your instincts might lead you to put weight on your foot, which could exacerbate the injury. At the very least, it would hurt like hell, to use a medical term."

Anya folded her arms and glared. The effect was much less intimidating when her eyes were still watering from pain. "Fine," she said at last. "But I expect to be kept fully informed of anything you two may run into."

"Of course!" Meme said. She was doing a remarkably good job of sounding cheerful despite the tears in her eyes. Tsugumi was in a similar position. This wasn't their first training accident, but there was always to urge to blame yourself. If you'd just moved a little faster, been a little more in sync with your partners, maybe you could have done something. Tsugumi was proud that she hadn't started sobbing yet.

It helped that Anya was more put out than upset about it. She'd already begun talking to the doctor in Ynglish, presumably trying to find something she could do to make her foot heal faster.

Now that Anya was looking away, Meme's face had fallen. Tsugumi took her hand gently. Meme didn't look at her, but she leaned into the touch. Tsugumi squeezed her hand, hoping she was conveying support and understanding. This was the last thing they needed on a trip that was already so hard on everyone.

Anya finished whatever she was saying to the doctor and turned back to face them. Judging by her frown, she had not been pleased with the results.

Tsugumi tried to smile at her. She knew Anya wouldn't blame her for the injury, but she still felt weirdly guilty. She would have reached out to comfort her, but she didn't want to let go of Meme.

At any rate, the frown vanished within moments, settling into resigned annoyance. "Well, at least I can still do paperwork and attend meetings. That's going to be fun." Anya leaned back on the bed. "You better come entertain me when you get a chance. That's the only way I will survive being trapped in this stuffy prison."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get sick of us before long," Tsugumi said. "We'll stay with you until you physically kick us out."

"And you can't do that because of the crutches, so really, you're stuck with us," Meme said. "That should motivate you to get better as fast as you can."

Anya laughed, her murderous look finally vanishing entirely. "Indeed. As soon as I can, I'll be running to get away from you."

Meme made a faux-scary face. "You will never escape the wrath of Meme!"

A silence fell over them. It was comfortable at first, but between the hospital atmosphere and the weirdness of everything Tsugumi soon found herself fidgeting. Anya looked like she had something she wanted to say but wasn't willing to, and Meme seemed to be lost in her own head.

"Do you know how long you're going to be stuck in this room?" Tsugumi finally asked.

"Not long, thank goodness," Anya said. "They need to make a cast, but after that there isn't much they can do. I get to just wait for a month and hope nothing goes wrong."

"Ah." Tsugumi looked around the room. "Is there anything I can get you while we wait?"

"I'm sure there is, but if I said yes I'd feel obliged to start doing work again," Anya said. "I'd much rather sit her and not worry about it for now."

"Seriously," Tsugumi said. "You're injured, and you deserve a break. Are you sure I can't get you something more fun, though?"

"I'm fine, really."

"If you're sure."

"You do remember that I have servants, right?" Anya raised an eyebrow. "I appreciate the offer, but it's really not necessary."

"Oh yeah." Tsugumi rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. She couldn't help but laugh, though, and after a moment the others joined in.

The air seemed to clear, and Tsugumi was about to start up an actual conversation when the doctor cut in. "As heartwarming as this is, I need you to leave," she said. "Not for long, but I need to concentrate. It would be a shame to make this worse because somebody couldn't resist laughing at the wrong moment and jolting the cast."

Tsugumi and Meme left the room reluctantly, and the doctor closed the door behind them. Tsugumi leaned her head against the wall. "Now what?" she asked. There wasn't really anything else they needed to do that way, but she didn't want to abandon Anya.

"We wait, I guess," Meme said. She kicked her leg aimlessly.

"We've been doing a lot of that recently." Tsugumi had meant for it to be a wry observation, but the words sounded bitter coming out of her mouth.

"How long have we been in Yngling now?" Meme asked.

"Just about a week, and we haven't really accomplished anything yet. Except, apparently, getting our partner injured." Nope, that was definitely bitter now. Tsugumi wanted to stop, but she was just so tired of all of this. She wanted to be back at the DWMA worried about whether there would be good food in the cafeteria and if they'd have an actual teacher this week.

"I mean, I was really looking forward to seeing you guys again, but then we keep getting split up and the first time we get to fight as a team again this happens. And it's not like I can blame you for finding something you like, because that's awesome and it would just be cruel of me to try to take that from you. And I can't blame Anya, because she's not doing this because she wants to and I don't need to add to that. I'm just whining."

She took a deep breath and turned away from Meme. That was really more than she'd meant to dump on her unsuspecting meister, and now she just sounded childish. "Sorry about that," she mumbled.

She was moving to walk away when Meme hugged her tightly. "it's okay," she said. "This will be over soon, and things will be fine. You just have to be strong for a little longer, okay?"

That was more or less what she was worried about, given that this whole trip she'd been proving how weak she was. But it was clear that Meme was trying to comfort her, and she wasn't enough of a jerk to ignore that. "I know," she said. "You too, okay?"

She let go gently and took a step back. "We've just got to do this for a little longer, and then we can go back to Death City and everything will go back to normal."

"Yeah, back to normal…" Meme's smiled faded, just a little. "I can't wait." She paused. "Do you want to hang out for a while to try to take your mind off things?"

She knew she probably should, but at that moment she mostly just wanted to hide under the covers for a few hours, or possibly a few days. "Not at the moment," she said. "I'll see you at supper though, right?"

"Of course," Meme said. "We have to bring Anya food and make sure she doesn't die of boredom."

They both laughed, though it was clear neither's heart was in it. It was still easier than actually dealing with their feelings, though, so they would take it.

Once they'd settled down, Tsugumi waved and took her leave. Now that she was thinking about it, the bathtubs in their rooms were enormous. There was bound to be some form of bubble bath somewhere, and at that moment she would love having an excuse to lock out the rest of the world. Besides, there was nothing fancier than taking a bubble bath in a castle, and she would not mind feeling fancy.

As it turned out, though, she'd underestimated her level of exhaustion. She'd barely gotten a chance to enjoy the bath before she fell asleep.


	8. Realization

After their mishap, Meme threw herself into her guard training even more. They didn't go on patrol for the next three days, as she said that she'd just gotten the basics down and needed to run them a few thousand times to get them into muscle memory. Stopping now would just make it harder later.

Anya had pursed her lips at this, but she agreed. She said that while Meme couldn't expect to master the techniques in the few weeks they were there she could definitely get a strong foundation.

Tsugumi suspected that part of it was Meme's reluctance to leave the castle while Anya was still trapped. Not that they addressed it out loud; Anya had obtained crutches as soon as she was able, and was determined to go about her day as if nothing had happened. Tsugumi offered to help her get around, but was firmly shut down. "They won't let a foreigner into most of these meetings, even if you don't understand the proceedings. It's stupid, but then so are most of the people I'm meeting with." Anya looked away. "Besides, you'd just be bored. I'm doing fine, so there's no reason to drag you into this."

Which was all very well, but it wasn't like Tsugumi had had much to do anyway. She'd been pleased that she'd managed to occupy herself for one day, darn it!

She ended up spending a lot of time in the gardens under Yulia's tutelage. There were plenty of common plants around, including the most gorgeous roses Tsugumi had ever seen, but somehow they only seemed to talk about those native to Yngling. Tsugumi hadn't head of most of them, but they were all fascinating. Yulia was willing to tell stories about most of them, whether about her experiences introducing them to foreign botanists or their histories in Ynglish folktales and herblore.

The latter stories were Tsugumi's favorites. She was never going to need a plant that could cure syphilis, but hearing about some person from three centuries ago and their quest to find one was much better than spending the day moping.

She still wouldn't trust herself to try to raise these plants on her own, especially with how serious Yulia was about them, but at least she got to feel like she was accomplishing something.

It almost made up for the increasing awkwardness whenever the three of them met up for a meal. They'd managed to strike up conversations despite it, but there was always a moment when the three of them were sitting around the table trying to think of something to say. Tsugumi wouldn't have minded if it wasn't happening so constantly; as it was, she felt like she was missing something important.

It got to the point that she was almost looking forward to her next patrol with Meme. It would give her something to do, and of the two of them Meme was the more likely to admit to something bothering her. Ideally, she would be able to talk to both of them, but she didn't need to stress Anya out any more. They could figure things out when she didn't have a country to worry about.

Her chance came when Meme admitted that it would be okay if she took a day off of training. "I don't think it will be a huge deal, right? I don't think they're doing anything too important tomorrow."

"It's Saturday," Anya said. "There isn't going to be any formal training tomorrow."

"You see? Nothing important!"

She wasn't wrong, Tsugumi had to admit.

The conversation quickly flowed to other topics, but she was still far too excited about the patrol. They'd have the car ride more or less to themselves, and then they'd have a new city to explore to help take their minds off the difficult subjects.

She woke up early the next morning, at least comparatively. Eight in the morning somehow felt so much earlier than it did during the school year.

Early enough that Meme still wasn't awake when she went down for breakfast. Which Tsugumi really should have expected, if she was getting up early to train. It made sense that she'd want to catch up on her sleep. Tsugumi could just sit in her room until then, reading one of the books Anya had recommended for another dose of Ynglish popular culture.

She left the door open to hear when Meme got up, which turned about to be a mistake. Between the occasional servant going past and her own overactive imagination, she didn't make it more than a page between distractions.

Meme didn't leave her room until just after ten, by which point Tsugumi had given up on her book entirely and was rearranging her wardrobe. She hadn't had a problem with how it had been set up before, but she needed something she could easily walk away from, and it was nice to have some control over her surroundings.

She ended up so engrossed in it that when Meme knocked on her door, she startled and nearly hit her head on the shelf. She stifled a yelp and went out to join Meme in walking to the dining room. She hadn't had anything to eat that day, since her goal for the day was talking to her meister, and she was ready for food.

She kind of wanted to bring up her worries immediately, but she thought that would be cruel to Meme, given that she'd just woken up. She would hardly be in the mood for a serious conversation. Tsugumi ended up babbling about gardening, because it was the only interesting thing she'd done in the past few days. She was aware that it was also one of the only things she'd talked about, but she was hoping that Meme was still too groggy to mind.

She perked up over the course of the meal, helped in no small part by the copious amounts of coffee they were provided. By the time they were ready to head out, their conversation was an actual dialogue.

The car was in front of the castle to greet them, with the same driver in the front seat. "Any plans for today?" she asked once they were settled in the back.

"Nothing in particular," Tsugumi said. "Could you just take us to another of the major cities? Thank you!"

"Of course." The partition went back up, giving Tsugumi and Meme a measure of privacy.

Tsugumi turned to Meme and took a deep breath. "Okay, sorry for dumping this on you, but I think we really need to talk. Is it just me, or are things feeling really awkward recently?"

"It's fine," Meme said distractedly. She seemed to be deep in thought, so Tsugumi didn't say anything that might interrupt her.

After waiting on her for a few minutes, she began to get impatient. "Meme?"

Meme jolted. "Yes?" She looked at Tsugumi's face and sighed. "I just zoned out and forgot what we were talking about, didn't I."

"I'm afraid so."

Meme blew at her bangs, which did nothing to get them out of her face. "Okay," she said. "Sorry about that." She tried to smile.

"No, it's fine!" Tsugumi said hastily. It was a little disappointing, but she was hardly going to blame Meme for it. But if she was already frustrated with herself, now didn't seem like the time to bring up communication issues. They could go out and enjoy themselves, then talk about it when they were in a better mood. She wasn't pleased about having to wait, but it was also an excuse to put off a difficult conversation.

Meme was still looking at her, waiting for her to continue the conversation. She floundered for a more lighthearted topic. "Oh, I was just wondering how much longer you thought we'd be in Yngling?"

There. That sounded important enough to prompt a decent conversation without being overly emotional, right? Okay, so maybe she'd freaked out over it a few days ago, but still. She'd been under a lot of stress. And maybe thinking about it still made her slightly miserable, but no one had to know that.

"Good question." Meme rested her hand on her chin. "How long have we been here so far?"

"Just over a week, I think." It was weird to think that less than a month ago, they'd all been celebrating being reunited ago. For that matter, less than a month ago there had been a very real chance that the world was going to end. And now here she was, sulking about having to perform simple tasks so that she could spend time with her friends.

She was suddenly very glad that she hadn't brought up her worries earlier. Of course they were a little distant; they'd all just had a near death experience. And this time, it couldn't have been defeated by the three of them working together.

"Really?" Meme asked. "It feels like so much has happened. Anya broke her foot, and I've been training, and didn't we all watch some sort of movie together at some point?"

"Yeah, and I know what you mean. I don't know if I'll be relieved or disappointed when we get home."

Thankfully, Meme didn't call her on her blatant lie. "I will miss living in a castle," she said instead. She stretched her arms out as best she could in the confined space. "I just hope we aren't missing too much class."

"I don't know if classes have started again, actually. I think they might just call this summer break."

They talked for a while about the ongoing cleanup efforts and what the people of Death City would be doing at this moment. It didn't help Tsugumi's homesickness.

It wasn't long after that that the car came to a stop, surprising Tsugumi. "That didn't take long," she noted.

"This isn't quite a major city, but I thought you might want to see one of the towns close to the castle," the driver said. "This way you can reassure them more personally. If you'd rather not, of course, I can always bring you someplace more urban."

"No, this is great!" Tsugumi said. It would be much easier for them to stick together this way, and since she really did want to have that conversation with Meme at some point the lack of people would probably be a good thing.

"I'm fine with it," Meme said.

"Very good. As always, I'll be here when you need me." The partition went back up, and the driver pulled out a book.

Tsugumi and Meme got out, giving Tsugumi a chance to look around. The town looked remarkably close to what she would have imagined: lots of small squat houses close together, looking like they could be 30 or 300 years old. The walls were more colorful than she would have expected, but otherwise it could have been the set of any period drama she'd seen.

She knew that what they could see wasn't the whole town, but it somehow gave the impression that the one street was all there was. She imagined that the next street would do the same thing, as would the next, until you were hopelessly lost.

But she wasn't going to let that happen. They were going to take a nice tourist-y walk, and then they were going to have a less nice but necessary conversation, possibly over a nice local meal. If they could find a restaurant with menus they could read, anyway.

"Okay, I vote that we don't try to spin to pick a direction this time," Tsugumi said. "How about we just head down this street?"

"Sure!"

They strolled along casually. The pleasant atmosphere and lack of people made it much easier for Tsugumi to relax, letting her focus on the conversation. If there were people around to impress, she'd go into a more alert state of mind, but for now the streets were all but deserted. Every now and then they'd pass someone, but most of them would respond to Meme's greetings with what was presumably Ynglish, sparing them from getting trapped in a conversation.

Tsugumi was enjoying herself, so of course it couldn't last. They'd been walking for only half an hour when they encountered someone who was willing to admit to speaking English. "It's good to get a chance to actually see you two," he said. "I'd heard you were in the country, but I didn't expect to get a glimpse of you, let alone meet you face to face."

"Thank you," Meme said.

It was flattering, but also kind of confusing. "Were you not able to see the demonstration?" Tsugumi asked. "We're not far from the castle, and it was supposed to be broadcast nationwide as well."

"I couldn't make it, sadly." He wrung his hands. "I tried to catch the broadcast, but I couldn't seem to get a signal. Everything was static but the local news channel."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tsugumi said. Was there really still madness in the air, nearly two weeks after things had gone back to normal? She would have expected a signal could at least travel the few miles from the castle.

Then again, she was hardly a kishin expert. For that matter, not everything had to be about kishin, hard as that could be to believe sometimes.

The man shook his head. "Oh well. At least I got to meet you in person, right? But I'm sure you're busy, so I'll get out of your way."

They exchanged goodbyes, and he walked off. Meme turned to Tsugumi. "He was nice."

"Yeah," Tsugumi said. "I didn't think anyone would really care about us being here. It's a shame the broadcast failed, though."

"It's kind of weird," Meme said. "Could we text someone and ask how long the madness will keep interfering with signals?"

"No, because we don't have service," Tsugumi said. "Even though I could have sworn I'd gotten the international plan…"

Meme's brow furrowed. "Is it just me, or is this starting to sound suspicious?"

Tsugumi ran a hand through her hair. "I mean, it's probably a coincidence, but this is still pretty strange."

"We should probably investigate more thoroughly by testing a wide range of signals," Meme said. "For instance, I'm sure the castle receives a large number of TV channels."

"I like the way you think."

If the driver was surprised to see them back so soon, she didn't comment. All she said was, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, can you take us back to the castle?" Tsugumi asked.

"Of course."

"So, what do you want to watch?" Tsugumi asked once they'd started moving.

"Hmmm… I don't really know," Meme said. "I don't know anything about Ynglish TV channels."

"Neither do I, but this is the royal family. They've got to have some sort of fancy plan that lets them watch anything they want."

"You mean Netflix?"

Tsugumi blinked slowly. "I guess, yeah. Still, if we're claiming to be investigating we should probably watch live TV. Besides, do you really want the royal family of Yngling to receive recommendations based on that Frisbee cop show?"

"No, you're right, CSI: Yo-Yo Cop Girl was much better. I guess we're just channel surfing, then."

"Sounds good."

From there, they started talking about what new shows looked good and whether they were missing anything interesting while they were in Yngling. (The consensus: probably not, and Netflix was still a thing. Tsugumi wasn't sure how she kept forgetting that.) They were back at the castle by noon, and after thanking their driver Tsugumi led Meme straight to the entertainment room where they'd watched all those ridiculous movies.

"Wow, this is a really big TV," Meme commented as they walked in.

"And I have no idea how to work it." Tsugumi walked over to the television and started looking for buttons. "One of these should be the power, at least."

The screen came to life, still showing the menu screen from "The Heart-Wrenching Saga of the Child Whose Mother was an Elephant". She kept pressing buttons until she'd somehow switched to live TV, though not without deafening herself and somehow making the screen turn purple. But she'd fixed it all quickly enough, which she thought counted as an achievement in and of itself.

The TV was tuned to what appeared to be the local news. A little more poking around and the reporters vanished, replaced by static. A number in the upper left corner of the screen confirmed that this was supposed to be another channel.

Tsugumi frowned at the screen. "Seriously?" She flipped through a few more channels, but was met with only static. One hundred channels later, the only things that had come through successfully were the news, a cooking show, and a couple of black and white movies.

"Drat," Meme said. "I was hoping we could get away with watching TV for the rest of the day, but it looks like there might actually be something to do."

"Maybe." Tsugumi stepped out from behind the television. "I mean, yeah, it's weird, but even if we assume that someone's doing this intentionally, how are we going to find them? Just ask someone for a map of everywhere that people's TVs aren't working?"

"Why not?" Meme asked. "I mean, not exactly, but if we can map out how far each signal is getting we might be able to find something."

"So, what, we get some sort of portable TV and test it out around the country?"

"Basically."

Tsugumi sighed. "Yeah, that does make sense. So now we should ask where to find a portable TV, I guess."

"I'm sure there's an electronics store somewhere." Meme stood up from her seat on the couch, suddenly looking almost excited. "Come on, we've got an adventure!"

That hadn't been Tsugumi's first thought, but at least they had a concrete plan. As long as no one broke any bones, this could be the highlight of the trip.

As always, their driver was a godsend. She hadn't left the castle yet, and was able to take them to an electronics store nearby. She seemed a bit more skeptical about the next step of their plan. "You want to drive around the whole country?" she asked. "Just going around the borders would take at least six hours, and that's not accounting for traffic."

"We don't have to go around the borders," Meme said. "As long as we get to a few of the major cities, we can probably get a sense for what's going on."

The driver closed her eyes, the only sign of exasperation she would allow herself. "Okay, I'm just going to drive. Let me know if you need me to do something differently."

She started the car. Meme leaned over to Tsugumi. "Is it just me, or is six hours still really short for a whole country?"

"I mean, I wasn't going to say anything," Tsugumi said. "But yeah, I knew Yngling was small, but I hadn't realized how small." It was almost like she'd spent most of her stay restricted to a single building.

Meme nodded. She pulled out the TV they'd bought, chosen mostly because it came with instructions in English. "Okay, time to figure out this thing."

They ended up having to hold it up to the window to receive any sort of signal, but otherwise the device wasn't that hard to figure out. They quickly learned that channels 80 through 90 were the most useful to check, as the others were just showed static all the time. As it was, they could only pick up about three channels at a time.

It took some effort, but they were able to figure out how far the interference seemed to extend for each channel. By that point, though, they'd been driving for hours, and Tsugumi was thoroughly sick of the car. Judging by the way Meme was squirming, so was she. "Is that it?" she asked, trying to stretch her legs in the limited space of the backseat.

"I think so," Tsugumi said. She leaned forward, and the partition rolled down. "Would you be able to plot today's route on a map?" she asked.

"Certainly," the driver said. "Is that it for today, then?"

"Yes. Thank you!"

They got off at the next exit. Tsugumi was staring out the window at nothing in particular, but as they got farther from the highway she got more and more uncomfortable. She grabbed her arms, trying to ignore the way her skin was crawling. "Do you feel that?"

Meme scratched at her legs. "I think so. This is gross."

"Seriously. If you're feeling it too, it's probably not natural." She knocked on the partition. "Can we turn around?"

"I suppose, but it will take a while to get back to the castle that way." Tsugumi couldn't read the driver's facial expression.

"Do it, please," she said.

The feeling lessened almost as soon as they turned around. When Tsugumi was sure they'd escaped, she spoke up again. "What was that?"

"I dunno," Meme said. "I guess it means there's probably something weird happening, though."

"I really hope it's not a witch," Tsugumi said. Meme stiffened, and Tsugumi rushed to reassure her. "I mean, there's no way the DWMA would send us here if there were a witch anywhere nearby. It's probably nothing."

She was pretty sure neither of them believed that last part. She'd be much happier when they had Anya with them again.

When they got to the castle, they went straight to the dining room they'd been meeting in. Anya wasn't there, which made sense given that it was only four thirty. There was a servant walking past, so they waylaid him and asked him to deliver a message.

Twenty minutes later, Anya arrived. "Sorry about that," she said. "I had to explain to some idiots that no, figuring out how to greet visiting dignitaries was not a pressing enough issue to detain me." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you're back early. What do you need?"

Tsugumi summarized their suspicions as succinctly as she could. "We think we've found the source of the disruption, or at least a place where something strange is happening. There's a weird feeling in the air, and we think it might be supernatural."

Anya's eyes widened. "That does sound more interesting than meetings. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Meme looked almost excited, despite the circumstances. "But we want to go investigate, and you should come too. There might be someone to fight!"

Anya threw her hands in the air. "Trust me, I'd love to come. I'd love to finally be doing something, but in case you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of trapped in this stupid castle." She gestured empathically with her crutch. "You two should go, though. Go save everyone and kick some butt for me, okay?"

She crossed her arms, but her eyebrows were drawn with worry. Tsugumi wished she could do something to help, but if the past week had proven anything, it was that the only thing she was able to do was garden, and even that was questionable.

But now that she was thinking about gardening, she might have a solution. If she could trust a half-remembered folktale from a week ago, anyway. "Um," she said, drawing both Anya's and Meme's attention. "I might have a way to let you come with us?"

Anya opened her mouth as if she was going to ask a question, but Tsugumi continued hastily. "I mean, it's not ideal, I can't magically heal you or anything. But, um, I think some of the plants I've been working with might help? They can probably take away the pain and give you full use of your leg, for a little while at least. Long enough to fight someone, probably." She laughed nervously. "I mean, if you want. We're still not even sure that there's something to fight…"

She hoped there was something to fight. It would suck if she was doing this for nothing, and she mind taking out her nerves on something.

Anya gaped at her. "Really? Tsugumi, that's amazing!"

"You are pretty amazing," Meme said.

Tsugumi blushed at their conviction, but Anya spoke up first. "Take me to this plant of yours. I'm not going to sit around while you guys do all the hard work."

"Are you sure? It can't be good for your foot to be standing on it, even if it doesn't hurt…"

Anya stood up. "It doesn't matter. Let's go."

"Okay, but you're taking the crutches too, just in case." Tsugumi was pretty sure this was a mistake, but she really did want Anya to be able to come with them, and it was her decision. She could only hope there wouldn't be a reason for her to get off the crutches.


	9. Confrontation

The ride back was tense, each of them stuck inside their own head. Tsugumi couldn't speak for the others, but a part of her was still convinced that she was making the whole thing up and that they wouldn't find anything abnormal. She would feel terrible if she set Anya's healing back by weeks over a false alarm.

But was an actual threat any better? That would increase the chances of injury for everyone, and if it was something like a kishin egg they would be hopelessly outclassed. There was also something discouraging about the idea that they'd been wasting time on fake patrols when there was a serious problem out there.

As unpleasant as her thoughts were, they were also distracting, and before she realized it they had pulled off at the exit from before. As soon as they did, she felt a wave of melancholy and standoffishness wash over her. She'd been expecting it, but that hadn't been enough to prepare her.

She saw Anya stiffen. She would have said something, but given the circumstances she wasn't sure trying to empathize would be helpful.

They followed the road to a town, ignoring the growing sense of dread as best they could. At least they knew they were going in the right direction.

As soon as they reached the main street, the driver pulled over, clearly as unenthused about this as the rest of them. She did retain enough grace to wish them good luck as they got out to investigate. Tsugumi was sure she'd appreciate that once she got away from the aura of malaise.

She really hoped it wasn't magic, or at least not a witch. There had to be other things that could produce this kind of effect, right? EAT students fought things other than witches, and they encountered all sorts of weirdness. Not that that was a particularly encouraging thought.

She wanted to blame her lack of focus on the field of unpleasantness, but she was pretty sure it was just nerves. She decided to just transform right then, so if something jumped out at them they wouldn't waste time. Besides, having easy access to her meisters' wavelengths was reassuring, and would hopefully help her stay focused.

She slipped her hand into Meme's and transformed, relaxing as soon as she could feel Meme's wavelength. There was a layer of imposed aloofness between them, but it was still familiar and comfortable.

Anya was a few steps ahead of them, but she stopped to let them catch up, apparently without thinking about it. She'd left her crutches in the car, which meant she had her hands free to rest on Tsugumi's handle. Tsugumi didn't think she should approve, but being able to feel both her meisters' wavelengths felt like coming home.

They walked as silently as they could, though there seemed to be no one to notify of their presence. Tsugumi could hardly blame people for not wanting to be outside, but it contributed to the creepy atmosphere. It was a bright clear day, but for some reason she kept thinking of it as foggy. There was a disconnect between her thoughts and the reality of the situation, which was both disorienting and worrying.

It was clear that they were getting close when Anya and Meme started trying to go in different directions, glaring at each other when they encountered resistance. "Maybe we should keep going forward," Tsugumi said. She had to fight to get the words out, her nonexistent tongue sticking in her imagined mouth.

"Right," Anya spat. Tsugumi's hackles raised, but she told herself not to take offense. They were deep enough that nothing they felt could be trusted.

She had thought she was paying attention to their surroundings, but she was still surprised when they found a building fifty feet in front of them. It loomed, paying no attention to the apparently cheery setting. Looking at it, it practically screamed evil, so of course they went straight up to it.

When they reached the doorstep, Meme cried out. Anya hissed, and they let go of Tsugumi almost simultaneously. She hit the ground, confused. Both her partners looked guilty, but neither moved to pick her back up, so she reluctantly changed back. They'd just have to hope they didn't need to fight, she supposed.

She pulled herself to her feet without meeting her meisters' eyes.

She really wished they could call for backup. They were NOT students, and completely unprepared for this. She'd looked up to people in the EAT class, but she hadn't seriously wanted to be one.

But it was too late to turn back now. They were close enough that whoever was behind this almost certainly knew they were there, and leaving now would just give them more time to prepare for a confrontation.

She pulled the door open, more forcefully than she'd originally intended. The interior was a quaint hairdresser's shop, too cheery to be comforting. There was a person at the desk, and when he looked up Tsugumi realized that he was the man who'd done her hair for the disastrous demonstration. At least he'd been creepy to begin with, she thought.

No, that really didn't help. This made no sense.

"Ah, welcome!" the man said. "It's good to see you girls again. What brings you to my humble shop today?"

He smiled far too easily, and Tsugumi's nerves ratcheted up even further. She couldn't quite force herself to say anything, so they just stared at each other for a moment. Finally, the stylist sighed. "Did I underestimate the field's effects? Oh well, looks like my cover's blown. I guess you live and learn." His smile grew even wider, the malice in it coming to the forefront. "So, what do you think? Admittedly, I'm no witch, but I'm pretty pleased with myself."

Anya snorted, and the man shook his head. "I am sorry to have dragged you into this, Your Highness. I suppose that's what happens when you hang out with unsavory elements like these two, but I'd still rather spare you this sort of unpleasantness." He stepped back, holding his hands up in a gesture of conciliation. "It's okay, though. You're all going to leave now, and everything will stay as it is."

"Why?" Tsugumi managed to ask. It came out more plaintive than she would have liked.

The stylist shrugged. "What does it matter? I may be using most of my soul's power to maintain this field, but I've got enough left to restrain any one of you. And since the field keeps you from working together, I think I'm set. So you'll just leave without any more fuss, and no one has to get hurt."

Tsugumi glanced at her meisters. She wanted to prove him wrong, but if they couldn't even wield her, how could they expect to put up a fight?

Meme bowed her head, and for a moment Tsugumi was afraid she was going to charge in anyway. But when she lashed out, it wasn't aimed at the stylist at all. She ran past him to one of the chairs, grabbed the hairdryer sitting in front of it, and smashed that into a mirror.

The stylist gaped at her. "Really now? That was uncalled for." He winced as she shattered the next mirror over. "I shouldn't be surprised coming from someone like you, though."

Tsugumi watched as Meme continued her rampage, when a sudden movement at her other side caught her eye. Anya darted forward and grabbed the cash register, stuck her tongue out at the stylist, and ran out the door.

Tsugumi wasn't sure what was going on, couldn't force her mind past the layer of remoteness, but she trusted her meister absolutely. She followed Anya out the door. Judging by the footsteps behind her, Meme had completed her circuit of the room and was coming to join them.

They formed a loose half-circle in the street, watching the door intently. After a moment, the stylist strolled out, his expression unamused. "I must say, I'm disappointed, You Highness." His gaze was squarely on Anya, discounting the others entirely. "I would have expected you to be above such disgraceful antics. These hooligans are a bad influence."

Anya flipped him off and started running again. The stylist chased after her, still ignoring Tsugumi and Meme. Tsugumi's first instinct was to follow Anya, but she'd clearly had a plan, and there had to be some way to take advantage of the stylist's ignorance. She took off down one of the side streets, hoping she was reading the situation correctly.

She pushed herself for the first few blocks, but once she was sure she wasn't being followed she slowed down. It was easier to breathe here, which she hoped was a sign that the field the stylist had set up wasn't as strong. If she was understanding the situation correctly, that meant she'd be able to resonate properly.

She took off again in the direction she thought Meme would have gone.

She kept expecting to look up and find the stylist waiting for her, or even one of her friends lying on the ground because she wasn't there to protect them, but the streets remained empty. She hoped she hadn't overshot. Or maybe she'd been wrong about the plan in the first place, and now everything was ruined.

She had half talked herself into giving up when she found Meme. She narrowly avoided crashing into her, coming to a panting stop four feet away.

Meme looked concerned, but all she asked was, "Can you transform?"

Tsugumi nodded and did so. Meme didn't immediately cry out in pain, which was a good sign. Tsugumi wasn't sure they could get a proper resonance going, but with any luck they wouldn't need to.

Meme started running the direction Anya had gone in. As they moved, Tsugumi couldn't help but be impressed yet again by Meme's strength and endurance. She was just as happy to be carried, but she knew her weapon form couldn't be light. Meme wasn't giving any sign of feeling the strain, though. She was amazing.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she caught a glimpse of Anya through one of the alleys, running along a parallel street. "Look left!" Tsugumi called.

Meme slowed down a little to get a better view. At the next alley they were able to clearly see Anya jogging along, the stylist continuing to rant behind her. She hadn't lost him yet, so she'd probably had a similar sort of plan in mind.

Meme slipped through the alley and fell in behind the stylist. He was apparently too absorbed in his diatribe to even notice them. "Why can't you see that I'm doing this for you?" he was muttering. "This country needs a return to its roots. We've had far too much of a foreign influence recently, and we're losing track of what's really important."

Meme took the opportunity to charge him. Tsugumi approved; if he'd kept talking, she might have attacked him herself. Even better, he turned around just before they connected, letting her hit him in the face.

He fell to the ground. Meme watched him cautiously, but he didn't seem inclined to stand up anytime soon. Tsugumi really hoped they hadn't killed him. He'd been unpleasant, yes, but as far as they could tell he was still human.

"It's about time," Anya said. She smiled at them, but she was limping as she came over. "How long were you planning to make me keep running on a broken foot?"

"Sorry," Meme said cheerfully. "It was going to be longer, but then that guy was being a jerk and I had to hit him in the face."

Anya laughed, at which point Tsugumi realized that the unpleasantness in the air was gone. "So what, now that he's unconscious the field has just vanished?"

Meme waved a hand through the air experimentally. "Seems like it," she said.

"He did say maintain it was using most of his soul's energy," Anya said. "Now that he's unconscious, he's probably unable to produce the energy it required."

"I guess." Tsugumi shifted out of weapon form. "That just seems anticlimactic, though."

"He was no match for us anyway," Meme pointed out. "I mean, he is a hairdresser."

"So now what?" Tsugumi asked. "If he's not a threat anymore…"

They all looked at his prone body.

"We should probably investigate his shop," Anya said. "We don't know if he has any other nasty surprises prepared.

"But do we just leave him here?" Tsugumi shifted her weight uncomfortably. "I mean, what if he wakes up and puts the field back up or something?"

"I guess we can take him with us…." Meme said. She made no move to go through with her suggestion. "We don't want to split up right now, anyway."

They stood around for another moment, then moved at once to pick him up. Tsugumi stepped back immediately to let her partners figure it out. Anya and Meme looked at each other, and Anya sighed and stepped back. "Fine," she said.

"Good. You are injured, after all." Meme scooped the stylist up and slung him over her back. "Now, back to the creepy store."

The store proved to be much less creepy when it wasn't emanating a magical field that messed with your head. The broken mirrors were still kind of ominous, but the building no longer seemed to be emitting fog to set the mood.

As soon as they were through the door, Meme dumped the stylist onto the counter. She brushed his cooties off while Tsugumi and Anya looked around. "Hmm. I was kind of hoping for a book labelled 'Evil Spells and You' or something," she commented.

"There is a back room." Tsugumi pointed across the store area. "Unfortunately, it's on the other side of a floor covered in broken glass."

"Oh good, my feet weren't messed up enough," Anya said.

"I can handle it," Meme said. She held out her hand. "I can carry Tsugumi across, and you can stay here and sit down. You probably shouldn't put more weight on your foot anyway."

"I just ran through half a city, I don't think this is going to hurt anything." Anya also held her hand out. "I can take Tsugumi, if you keep an eye on this jerk."

Tsugumi tried to fight down her giggles. They weren't really appropriate, but this was more planning than they'd used to take down the man who'd been causing so much trouble, all over some broken glass.

Anya and Meme looked at her in confusion. Their expressions were too much, and Tsugumi burst out laughing. She was still giggling when she transformed. It was totally unnecessary, but she was reveling in the opportunity to feel her meisters' wavelengths without any interference.

None of them quite knew what to expect from the private areas of a salon, but they agreed that what they found was utterly innocuous. They poked around, dragging the stylist's unconscious body behind them, but found nothing more sinister than expired hair products. Anya sighed loudly and collapsed into one of the chairs that had escaped Meme's wrath. "Well, that was a waste of time."

Meme hopped up onto the counter, leaving the stylist on the floor under her feet. "I don't know, I feel better knowing he didn't have some sort of trap set up."

Tsugumi sat in one of the other chairs and spun around idly. "I kind of wish he did, though. It would help me think of this guy as evil. I mean, he's a creep, but he's not a kishin egg."

"He would have driven an entire country to bankruptcy to return to his idealized version of a past that would benefit him at the expense of everyone else." Anya crossed her arms. "Not only that, he tried to split us up. He deserves whatever's coming to him."

"But what is that, exactly?" Meme asked. She looked down to where he was splayed on the floor. "Anya has a point, but we can't kill him."

"Yeah…" Tsugumi looked at the ceiling, still spinning.

"We could always let the legal system deal with him," Anya suggested. "That way he won't be our problem anymore. I'm sure my word would be enough to get him imprisoned for the rest of his life."

"Did he actually break any laws?" Meme asked.

Anya pursed her lips. "If nothing else, I'm pretty sure there's a fifteenth century anti-curse law that would be applicable here."

"But would throwing him in prison be enough to keep him from trying anything else?" Tsugumi hugged her upper arms. "We don't know how he did this, so maybe he can set up another field from inside the prison. Then he could just walk out and we'd be back where we started. We might need to invoke the DWMA's authority in matters of magic."

"But then he'd probably get sentenced to death." Anya looked at her lap. "Is there any difference from us killing him now?"

Meme laughed abruptly. "I guess that's the problem with attending a school run by Death himself." She shook her head. "It's not funny, but it's kind of funny, you know?"

Tsugumi smiled despite herself. "Oh no, the Death Weapon Meister Academy might be related to death? How can this be?"

Anya gasped, doing her best offended snob impression, which was only subtly different than her actual offended tone. "I don't believe he's even a legitimate noble."

"You're right," Meme said gravely. "Someone should arrest him for impersonating nobility."

"Maybe then we'd get out of classes for a little while." Tsugumi kicked her legs idly. "Then again, maybe we'd end up with another weird Death Scythe taking over, like every other position that needs to be filled."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll run out of Death Scythes eventually."

There was a moment of silence. Tsugumi's eyes darted back over to the man lying on the floor. How long did people normally stay unconscious once they were knocked out? Anya followed her gaze and sighed. "I guess for now we should tie him up and gag him. If what he does is anything like witch magic, he probably has to recite a spell to do anything."

Meme pushed herself off the counter. Tsugumi watched as she retrieved a pair of scissors and one of the bibs for catching hair, cut it into strips, and twisted it together. "It's not a rope, but it will probably work for now. Besides, he's a jerk who deserves to have his stuff destroyed."

"Indeed." Anya went to stand up, then winced and sank back into her chair.

She looked like she was going to try again, so Tsugumi got up instead. "I've got it!" she said, kneeling to help Meme. She really hated to see Anya in so much pain, especially since it was partially her fault. Of course, it was also the fault of this jerk.

She realized she'd tied the man's hands too tightly, but after looking at them closely she left them as they were. It wasn't enough to seriously hurt him, and she wanted to be positive that he wouldn't be able to try anything.

When Meme was satisfied that he would be completely unable to speak, she straightened up. "Okay! So, now what?"

"That is what we've been discussing for the last few minutes," Anya said, amused.

"No, like, how do we get back to the castle from here? I don't want to carry this guy all the way, and you probably shouldn't be trying to walk right now." She grinned cheekily. "And while carrying you might be nice, that still leaves the question of this tool."

Tsugumi blinked. They were definitely going to have to talk later. More importantly, she had an idea. "Let me try something." She fished her phone out of her pocket and turned it on. "Aha! Three bars. Anya, do you happen to have your driver's number?"

"No, but I can call someone who does," Anya said. "I don't have my phone on me, though. There wasn't much point to carrying it around the castle, and somebody thought it would be a good idea to drag me out here without letting me grab it."

Tsugumi handed her phone over, pointedly ignoring Anya's teasing. It wasn't like a phone would have been very helpful until they'd defeated this guy anyway.

Anya deftly unlocked the phone, and one brief conversation in Ynglish later announced that their driver was on her way.

"Nice." Tsugumi took the phone back, checked its lockscreen, then put it away. "Okay, how is it not even seven yet? I feel like it's been days since I woke up this morning."

"Same," Meme said. "Was it really that hard to take him down?"

"Not for you slackers," Anya said. "But yes, I am ready to not do anything for a while."

"All in favor of napping on the ride back to the castle?" Meme raised her hand, closely followed by Tsugumi. "Then it's settled. We can call the DWMA once we get back."

The driver pulled up in front of the shop not long after that. "Was your mission successful?" she asked.

"It was," Anya said, getting into the car.

"Excellent." The driver got back in, ignoring the fact that Meme was carrying an unconscious man.

She loaded him into the trunk, ignoring Tsugumi's exclamations. "It's not like he'll know, and I don't want him up with us," she said. She slammed the trunk closed with more force than was strictly necessary.

Tsugumi thought she should be more concerned, but Meme made a compelling argument. Even if he woke up, it wasn't like he'd be able to escape, and she really didn't want to have to deal with him. She got into the car with no further protests.

For all her complaints about exhaustion, she hadn't really expected to be able to sleep. But she had Meme leaning on her shoulder, and Anya was slumped against the car door, and she thought it would be okay to close her eyes for just a little bit.


	10. Satisfaction

Waking up with her meisters at her side was very nice. Being woken up by the driver telling them that they were back at the castle was much less nice, as was the subsequent realization that now they would have to do responsible things again.

Tsugumi made a noise like an annoyed cat before reluctantly pushing herself fully upright. Anya looked similarly disgruntled as she pulled herself up, while Meme had screwed her eyes shut and was refusing to move. Tsugumi shook her shoulder, and she groaned before giving in and opening her eyes.

"I know," Tsugumi said. "But we should probably eat, and then I think we need to talk."

Meme rubbed her eyes, nodding, then jolted fully awake. "Oh. Right."

Anya looked at them suspiciously, an effect which was muted when she yawned in the middle. "In that case, we should probably get out of the car."

"Okay," Meme said. She paused and stretched her arms, laughing at Anya's annoyed expression.

They got out of the car. "We're going to leave this criminal with you," Anya told the driver. "Have someone put him in jail, and make sure he's gagged and restrained the whole time. We'll have extradition papers for him soon, but right now you need to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble. He's probably harmless at the moment, but I don't want to risk it."

"Of course." The driver grinned wolfishly. "From what I've picked up from you three, I can't say I'll mind."

"Excellent. Thank you; I will ensure you're commended for your outstanding service." Anya turned to Tsugumi and Meme. "Now come on, I want to hear what you've been exchanging looks about."

Tsugumi bit her lip. "There's kind of a lot. Can we have this conversation over dinner?"

"Yes please!" Meme stifled a yawn.

"Okay?" Anya looked apprehensive, but soldiered forward. "In that case, I guess we should head to the dining room we've been using. Unless you want my parents to be around for this."

They went into the castle. Anya was moving slowly, relying on her crutches more than she had for the last few days. Tsugumi hoped she hadn't hurt herself too much. It did mean she had more time to get her thoughts in order, so that hopefully she wouldn't come across as too clingy and pathetic.

Once they arrived at the dining room, Anya asked what they wanted to eat. "Something warm and filling," Meme said.

Anya nodded and said something to the nearest servant. They'd accumulated a pack as they walked, but now they dispersed, presumably to obtain food. "Okay, they'll bring something out in a few minutes," Anya said. "Now, ladies first." She gestured to the door with as much flourish as she could manage without knocking a crutch over.

They sat down around the table and looked at each other for a long moment. Tsugumi was the first to crack. "I guess I'll go first, then? Just… promise you'll listen to everything before you say anything, okay?"

"Of course," Anya said intently. She reached a hand across the table, and Tsugumi took it.

Meme put her hand on top of theirs. "Whatever it is, we're here for you."

"Okay." Tsugumi took a deep breath. "Umm, I know this sounds really bad, but this trip has been kind of miserable and I want to go home?" Anya breathed in sharply, but kept her word and said nothing. "I'm sorry, Anya, your country is really nice! And I missed you guys so much, and I'm really glad that we're together again. But you're stuck doing princess things most of the time, and Meme's training with the guards, and I'm really happy for you!

"It's just, well, you're both doing your own things, and I'm just sitting around waiting for you. Even when we were 'patrolling', we were mostly just killing time, and at least then I had you with me. And I know it's stupid, because we're getting plenty of chances to talk, and it's not like we spend all our time together when we're at the DWMA. I don't know, I just missed you guys, and it kind of feels like we're drifting apart, and I'm a little terrified of that."

She finished her speech and noticed that the hand not being held had made its way into the air and was accompanying her statements with wild gestures. She shoved it into her lap, not meeting the others' eyes.

Meme was the first to react. "Yeah, that would suck," she said. "I'm sorry."

Tsugumi looked up. Meme was smiling at her encouragingly, and Tsugumi smiled back. Anya was more rigid, her back straight and her smile not entirely genuine, but it was clear she was trying to be supportive. "I hadn't realized it would be this bad," she said. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I wanted you to see what my country had to offer, but it's not worth making you miserable."

Tsugumi frowned. "That's not it. I really liked when you were showing us around or staying in with us and watching ridiculous movies. It's just that when we weren't doing that, you felt kind of distant." Anya pursed her lips. "And it's not your fault! I know that, you can't have been enjoying it either. It was just kind of terrible for everyone, even without the whole weird emotion field thing."

Anya exhaled loudly. "No, you're right. I've been pushing you away, then smothering you to try to make up for it. It's not like I actually need to be doing half the things they have me doing. People mostly want to know that their princess is here, and while that's happening they might as well give me something to do, but it's not like other people couldn't take care of most of it." She smiled wryly. "Basically, I've been abandoning you guys for no good reason. Sorry!"

She relaxed into her chair, then straightened back up. "Well, I guess if we're doing the feelings thing there's something I should say too." She grimaced exaggeratedly. "I'm really glad that you're finding things to do while I'm trapped in these constant meetings, but I've been worrying that you're going to leave me behind.

"Both of you are picking up new skills and learning useful things. Meme's terrifyingly good and combining styles of combat to destroy her opponents, and we couldn't have beaten this jerk without Tsugumi's new gardening knowledge. Meanwhile, I'm arguing with the same people I've been arguing with my whole life over what color to make the curtains." She rolled her eyes. "As fun as that is, I'm not really learning anything."

"Um," Meme said. "I've actually been worrying about something similar? I mean, kind of." She clutched her arm with the opposite hand. "Fighting is pretty much the only thing I'm good at. You're both doing interesting things, and I'm learning how to beat someone up. And sure, that works for now, but what's going to happen when we graduate? We're going to go out into the real world, where you have to have actual skills, and I don't know if I'm going to be ready."

Tsugumi gaped at her. "You're the best adjusted of the three of us! I mean, I worry too much, and Anya's kind of self-absorbed, but you're actually able to deal with things."

Anya shot Tsugumi a look, but didn't argue the point. "Just look at this trip. You've been the one to hold us together, and you were the one to figure out how to find the guy who's been causing trouble. We've just been sitting around and sulking."

"Yeah, but people are easy." Meme thought about it. "Well, not easy, exactly, but once you start thinking of them as individuals instead of as 'people' it makes a lot more sense. But that's not really a marketable skill, especially when you can barely remember who your coworkers are from day to day."

"I'm sorry," Tsugumi said lamely. Meme was normally so upbeat, but any time she talked about her memory problems Tsugumi just felt helpless and slightly guilty. She knew that there wasn't much anyone could do about it, but it still hurt all of them.

Well, she thought bitterly, it probably hurt Meme the most. Tsugumi was just complaining.

Anya had been staring into space, eyebrows drawn, but she seemed to have come to a realization. "You know…" she started, sounding surprisingly hesitant. "I don't think there's any reason we have to stay in NOT."

She glanced up at their faces, then went back to staring at the table, face pink. "There's also no reason to leave if you don't want to. And there's no guarantee that we'd even be accepted into EAT, especially after this week." Her gaze slid to her foot. She swallowed. "But if you're worried about the future, there's no reason we have to stop what we're doing now. It's like at the Death Festival, right? We don't have to choose between growing up and staying together."

Meme looked thoughtful. "That would be a lot of work, of course. Would we have to fight more witches?" She shuddered. "I don't know if I can do that again."

"We don't have to make Tsugumi a Death Scythe, though," Anya said. "Didn't Kim say something about how she's not planning to make Jackie one?"

"I wouldn't mind not being one," Tsugumi said. She hadn't expected to become a Death Scythe before, and she didn't really care about it now. But being able to stay with her partners for the rest of their lives, or at least the foreseeable future, was an enticing thought.

It would also be an opportunity to be more like Maka. And while she was over the whole hero worship thing, at least mostly, she couldn't deny that the other girl was incredibly cool. Tsugumi wouldn't mind being more like her.

… Now that she was thinking about it, she might be less over the hero worship than she'd like to think. That wasn't the point. "But yeah, EAT might be cool."

"We don't have to decide right now, of course," Anya said. "But it is an option to consider."

"That sounds good," Meme said. "Remind me about it when we get back to the DWMA?"

"Of course." Anya leaned back in her chair. "Well, that was fun. Any other big, emotional confessions to deal with?"

"I don't think so," Tsugumi said.

"Oh, I've got one," Meme said. "I've been wanting to kiss you for a while."

Anya leaned forward so quickly she hit her elbows on the table. She adopted a look of forced casualness. "Okay."

"Wait, which of us?" Tsugumi asked.

Meme shrugged. "I mean, both of you, but I don't want to pressure you into anything." All three of them were bright pink at that point. "If you want, we can just ignore it, but I thought you might want to know."

"Yeah," Tsugumi said faintly. "Actually, um, if you're still interested I'd be okay with it."

"Good." Meme stood up and walked deliberately to wear Tsugumi was sitting. "I'm going to kiss you, then."

For a girl who was in love with love, Tsugumi had been kissed maybe twice in her life. This blew both of them out of the water. Meme's lips were soft, and the kiss was gentle. When they broke apart, Tsugumi's face was bright red, but she was grinning dorkily. "Thank you," she said. Which was probably not the right thing to say, but she couldn't even bring herself to care.

She hadn't noticed that Anya had stood up until she was at her other shoulder. "Well, that hardly seems fair." She leaned down to kiss Tsugumi herself. It was quick and chaste, her lips pressed against Tsugumi's for only a moment before pulling away. It was also absolutely amazing.

Anya's face was flushed, but she looked very satisfied with herself. "There. Now it's even."

"Not really," Meme said. "I mean, I haven't gotten to kiss you yet."

"Oh, you're right." Anya looked at her. "Shall we fix that?"

They kissed, and Tsugumi had to resist the urge to squeak. This was far too cute, and it was unfair. She was sure her brain was going to overload if this continued.

Meme was the one to break the kiss. "Okay, this is very nice and all, but weren't we supposed to have food at some point?"

Anya swatted her shoulder. "And here I thought you were being romantic."

"I can be romantic and hungry," Meme said.

As if on cue, their food was brought in. "Oh good!" Meme said. "We should definitely continue this conversation later, though."

"Maybe in my room? You can spend the night," Anya said. "I can have some beds brought up, but I'm a little sick of having you guys so far away."

"Actually," Tsugumi started. "Your bed is really big and fancy, right?"

Meme nodded with mock solemnity. "I think you're obligated to let us try it out."

Anya turned away, but Tsugumi watched as her ears became even redder. "Well, if you insist, I suppose I can allow it. Let me go ask for extra pillows."

She sped out of the room. Tsugumi and Meme exchanged a glance. "It will be like when you were sleepwalking into our beds," Tsugumi said, in an effort to salvage her brain.

"Kind of," Meme agreed. "But with more cuddling, hopefully."

Traitor. Tsugumi took a bite of her food, giving her brain time to reboot.

This evening was just going to be ridiculous and sappy, wasn't it? She hoped so. She was looking forward to every minute of it.


End file.
